Revival of Hope
by QueenOfDragons2
Summary: When Masaru Kurohiko agreed to be a part of Operation: Revival of Hope, led by Dr. Heizo Sasaki, he didn't realize how literal the name would turn out to be. Nor did he realize how much it would end up applying to him and Dr. Sasaki as well... Contain spoilers for Dangan Ronpa 1, 2, & Another Episode. Cross-posted on AO3 and DeviantArt. Ch. 15 & 16 have been revised.
1. Hope's Peak Academy

A man in his late thirties stands with a stoic expression on his face and his hands on his hips. He's wearing a white physician's coat over a teal shirt and brown pants. His short, black hair moves slightly in the soft wind, and his icy blue eyes can easily be seen through his non-reflective glasses.

Behind him are 19 men and women and a large, refrigerated truck. 30 feet in front of them are the open doors of Hope's Peak Academy.

A man near the back cautiously speaks up. "Um, sir?"

The man in the white coat looks back. "Yes?" he asks.

"Are you _sure_ that the defenses are down?"

"Pretty sure. There's no reason for them to be active now that the doors are open. Still…" He motions to two people in the crowd. "You two, find the automated defenses and dismantle them."

The two immediately rush off.

The man near the back rushes up to the man in the coat and asks, "Um…sir?"

Surprised, the man says, "Yes?"

"Um… I'm aware that we're on Operation: Revival of Hope but…exactly what is Operation: Revival of Hope?"

There's a long pause as the other man's eyes go wide. He turns back to the rest of the group and yells, "NOBODY told him? NOBODY?"

Silence.

The man facepalms and sighs. "Dear Lord…" he mumbles. "Okay. Nine of you wait here by the truck for my signal. The rest of you, search the school for anything important or useful. You," he says, pointing to the man next to him, "come with me."

Once the others have gone off, the man in the coat turns to the other man and says, "Your name is Masaru Kurohiko, right?"

"Yes sir. So, um…what is Operation: Revival of Hope?"

"…At this point, it'd be faster to show you than to explain." He motions towards the school. "Come on."

The two men then go inside. Once they're in, the man in the coat puts a very small device on the floor, just in front of where the doors would be if they were closed.

"What's that?" Masaru asks.

"Hopefully," the other man replies, "you'll never have to find out."

Masaru's curious, but he realizes that pressing would be pointless, so he simply says, "So where exactly are we going?"

"You'll see."

When they're in the hallway, Masaru notes, "The power's still on."

"Of course it is. It's only been two days since the survivors left. Still, we can't stay too long."

"Oh, right. The air purifier's off."

The man silently leads Masaru to the stairs to the next floor, then the next. Their silence is occasionally broken by a run-in with another member of the group and by the man in the coat receiving information from them via two-way radio. Strangely enough, one person finds four chickens; they're told to bring the chickens with them. Eventually, they get to a long hallway on the fifth floor…and that's when Masaru starts to piece things together.

"S-Sir, where are we going?"

"You'll see very soon," he says with an undeniably giddy tone of voice.

Masaru looks ahead. There's only one place they could possibly be going at this point.

"Th-The Biology Lab?"

"Yep."

"B-But- But that's where-!"

Before he can finish his sentence, they reach the doors at the end of the hallway. The man in the coat swings the doors open, letting out a blast of frigid air from the Biology Lab. Masaru immediately starts shivering despite his long-sleeved shirt but the man in the coat, who seems completely unaffected by the cold, runs in.

"S-S-Sir!" Masaru yells, rushing after him.

Two rows of small doors line the back wall of the freezing room. There are indicator lights next to each of the doors. Nine of the blue lights are lit, indicating that they're being used…that there's a body inside.

The man in the coat is standing in front of one of the doors.

"D-Doctor Heizo Sasaki…" Masaru stammers.

Ignoring him, Heizo opens the door and pulls out the tray inside. Lying on the tray is a body covered by a white sheet. Heizo lifts the sheet up, looking at the corpse underneath.

Masaru goes over to the side of the tray opposite of Heizo. Heizo pulls the sheet down, exposing the corpse's face.

Masaru grimaces. It's Leon Kuwata, the boy who had been bludgeoned to death by a barrage of 1,000 baseballs. His face is, unsurprisingly, bruised and bloody, and there are several spots where his facial bones are undoubtedly broken. He's almost unrecognizable. Masaru quickly looks away from the gruesome sight, but Heizo isn't bothered in the slightest.

"Doctor…" Masaru says, "You're not planning on doing what I think you're planning on doing, are you?"

Heizo, with a small but slightly eerie smile on his face, says, "If what you think I'm planning on doing involves using the serum, then I probably am planning on doing what you think I'm planning on doing."

Masaru takes a step back. Shocked, he says, "B-But sir! I will not deny that the serum has powerful healing properties, but…using it to bring back the dead!?"

"It's worth a try," Heizo says with a suddenly blank expression and a hollow tone of voice. "I need to know…if they can still be saved… I need to…"

Masaru glances back down at Leon's body. It's then that he notices that Heizo had put his hand on the back of Leon's head and is now rubbing the corpse's temple with his thumb. Masaru feels his skin crawl and looks into the doctor's eyes, hoping for some indication of why he was doing that.

What he sees…is something that he's never seen before. There's a look of intense determination, along with…despair? He isn't sure.

"…What's wrong?" Masaru asks softly.

Heizo, in a flat, nearly monotonous tone of voice, murmurs, "Do you know what it's like to lose a family member?"

"…Not really…"

"Do you have any idea how these kids' families might feel about losing them?"

"…I'm pretty sure these kids' families are all dead."

Heizo looks up at Masaru's eyes. "You don't know if every single one of their relatives is dead. It might be a parent, a grandparent, a sibling, a cousin, an aunt, an uncle, a niece, a nephew, whatever. I know you saw the broadcast. How do you think the relatives of the kids who died felt as they watched them die?"

"…I honestly have no idea, sir."

There's a hollow look in Heizo's eyes as he looks back down at Leon. He continues to gently stroke the boy's temples as though he was only sleeping. Masaru also looks back at Leon. It's the first time he's ever been up close to a real dead body. He had seen several movies where it was somewhat easy to tell that the "dead" body was still breathing, but this… The only movements from Leon are those caused by Heizo's stroking. Otherwise, he's completely still. It's…unnerving.

Masaru looks back at Heizo, who seems to be muttering something under his breath.

Masaru asks, "…Is that why you want to try reviving them? Because of their families?"

Heizo replies, "It's…part of the reason."

Masaru is startled to see a tear roll down Heizo's cheek as the latter bites his lower lip. It's the first time he's seen Heizo cry, and he wonders if Heizo's going to break down in tears.

But he doesn't. Instead, he sharply inhales through his nostrils and lets out a shaky sigh.

"The other part is…for more personal reasons…"

Masaru feels a sudden need to change the subject. "Um… Are you sure we have enough serum…?"

"…We might need to make more, but I'm fairly certain that we have enough components to make enough. We might need to get more afterwards."

A voice suddenly comes on over the two-way radio. "Sir?"

Heizo takes the radio off his belt and speaks into it. "Yes?"

"We found the research notes of, um…Yasuke Matsuda, the Ultimate Neurologist. Should we take those too?"

"Yes. Those may turn out to be very useful. And even if they don't, I don't want those falling into the wrong hands again. Anything even remotely useful; whether it's research notes, food, clothes, or whatever; take it with you." Heizo clips the radio back onto his belt and looks back down at the corpse in front of him.

Almost automatically, Masaru adds, "And, um… What about…Junko Enoshima?"

Heizo stares up at Masaru. His intense glare makes Masaru glad that he hadn't chosen to stand next to the doctor.

Heizo leans forward and, with just a hint of hostility in his voice, says, "I have no plans whatsoever of reviving Junko Enoshima, for several reasons. First of all, reviving her would be counterproductive to the goals of Operation: Revival of Hope. Second, I don't have enough body containers. Third, Ultimate Despair may have already salvaged her carcass to the point where I wouldn't have enough to revive her from. Fourth, even if they haven't, she died by being crushed; it might be impossible to revive her. And fifth…" Heizo leans further forward and grits his teeth. "Why. Would. I. Bring. Back. Someone. Like. HER?"

Masaru shrinks back and whimpers, "I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to imply that! I just wanted to be sure that you WEREN'T planning on it!"

Heizo stares intensely at Masaru's eyes, as though trying to look into his very soul.

Before Masaru can say anything, Heizo's eyes suddenly narrow and he looks away, looking almost frightened.

"No," he says quickly, "you're right. I'm sorry."

There's an awkward silence between the two men as they wait for the other to say something.

It doesn't last long, though.

"D-Daddy?"

Masaru, startled, turns towards the sound of the timid voice and is surprised to see Natsuki Sasaki, Heizo's teenage daughter. She's standing in the open doorway of the Biology Lab, clutching her arms and shivering.

"Natsuki?" says Masaru. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at the hospital?"

Her straight, light-purple hair is somewhat unkempt, as are her bangs, as though she hasn't brushed her hair for a few days (and knowing her, she probably hadn't).

Natsuki, barely audible, whimpers, "I…I…didn't want to be alone…"

"Um… But…isn't your mom there…?"

She glances at Heizo and says, "I…I'm more comfortable…with Daddy…"

Masaru looks at Heizo. His eyes are wide, and there's a subtle look of horror in his face. Masaru can't blame him. The world has become a dangerous place, and it's even more dangerous to be alone. At least she doesn't look injured…

"Sweetheart…" Heizo murmurs, "You could've just asked…"

"I-I-I'm sorry…" Natsuki whimpers, taking a few steps back.

Heizo immediately goes over to her, saying, "No no no, you don't have to apologize." He wraps his arms around her, holding her in a tight embrace. "It's okay, sweetie, it's okay…"

Masaru idly wonders what their family life had been like prior to the Despairing Incident.

He turns back to Leon's body, questions swirling in his mind. Why was Dr. Sasaki so sure that he could revive the dead with the serum? Would it even work? Even if it did, would the kids' personalities be the same as before their deaths? Or would they be completely different?

He slightly shakes his head…and jumps when he realizes that Heizo is now standing right next to him.

He says, "Would you like to help with loading the bodies?"

"Loading the bodies…?"

"Loading them into the containers to take back to the hospital."

Masaru blinks, surprised by the offer.

"…Before I answer that question, there's something I'd like to know."

"What?"

"How can you seem so certain that you'll be able to bring these kids back to life? And even if we can, there's no guarantee they'll be the same as before they died, or if it'll even really be THEM. You know what I mean?"

"I think so. But even if they don't have their original 'souls,' as long as they have their original personalities and all their memories in the end, that'll be good enough for me."

"'In the end?'"

"They…probably won't be able to remember their past life after their revival, so their personalities may not be exactly the same as before, but hopefully they'll go back to normal when they regain their memories."

"…And how do you know that's 'probably' what's going to happen?" Masaru asks rather slowly.

"For the same reason I know that I can certainly bring these kids back to life."

_What on Earth happened in this guy's past?,_ Masaru thinks. _…Maybe I'm better off not knowing._

There's another awkward silence between the two men as they wait for the other to say something.

This time, though, it's Masaru who breaks the silence.

"So, um… As for your question earlier…"

"Yes?"

"I think I'll take up your offer."

"Very good. In that case," Heizo says, taking the radio off his belt, "there's no reason to delay loading."

Masaru wraps his arms around himself and shivers. "But first I have to go defrost outside!"

Heizo cocks his head to the side and raises an eyebrow. "The temperature bothers you?"

"It _doesn't_ bother _you_?" Masaru retorts.

"No," Heizo says as though it's the most obvious thing in the world, "not at all."

Masaru simply rolls his eyes and leaves the Bio Lab.

Outside in the hall, Natsuki is leaning against the wall, combing her fingers through her somewhat lengthy hair.

"Is something wrong?" Masaru inquires.

"Ever since I stepped in here," Natsuki says, "I keep getting this nagging feeling that I've been here before…"

"Well, you did watch the broadcast…"

"No, not like that. I mean like…like I've actually physically been inside this building before… Oh nevermind."

Masaru wants to press the subject, but, again, decides that he's better off not knowing.

After a few seconds, Natsuki says, "How do you think the survivors would feel if they found out what we were planning to do?"

Masaru responds, "Probably surprised, shocked, skeptical, maybe a little hopeful."

Natsuki sighs and asks, "Do you…really think we'll be able to pull this off? Operation: Revival of Hope, I mean."

Masaru looks up at the ceiling. "…I really, really hope so. For their sake…and for mine."

Natsuki's too nervous to ask what he means.

**Author's Note: ****It's been a long time since I've made a proper fanfic so please let me know how I'm doing with this. Here's to hoping I can retain interest in this fandom long enough to finish this fic.**


	2. The Hospital

**By the way, if at any point I contradict something in canon (besides the whole "bringing the dead back to life thing" of course), please let me know. Also, in the English translation, is it referred to as the School Life of Mutual Killing or as the Killing School Life? Or is it something else entirely?**

The ride in the truck back to the hospital is mostly uneventful, aside from an encounter with a group of Monokuma mask-wearing terrorists who were quickly dealt with.

The hospital, the name of which Masaru still doesn't know, had once been one of the largest hospitals in Japan. It had been at the forefront of medical research and technology. Now, though, it's a shelter for anybody they could find that wasn't a part of Ultimate Despair. An enormous makeshift (but extremely sturdy) wall had been erected around the hospital. The wall had several deterrents against anyone trying to climb it, ranging from electrified barbed wire along the top to poles covered with spikes in such a way that climbing them was impossible. As a result, there were only two ways of getting in. The first was the main entrance, which is a circular gate large enough for a vehicle (such as the refrigerated truck) to go through. The second was a small gap in the wall near the back of the hospital that was large enough for a normal person to fit through sideways. There was nothing protecting it, but it was built into the wall in such a way that finding it was impossible unless you already knew where it was. (Or so Masaru had heard; personally, he had yet to see this entrance, nor had he heard who exactly would know where it was.)

They drive through the front entrance, the great gate closing behind them. The truck stops near a large group of people standing by the main entrance, presumably there to help with unloading the bodies. Masaru stumbles out of the passenger's side, with Natsuki close behind.

Almost immediately, a woman steps out of the crowd. She's wearing a brown jacket and pants, and her shoulder-length hair is a darker shade of purple than Natsuki's. "Natsuki!?"

Natsuki nervously turns away and says, "H-Hi Mom…"

Mrs. Sasaki rushes over to her, saying, "Natsuki, where have you been!?"

"I…"

"Come on, let's go inside." With that, Mrs. Sasaki leads her daughter by the shoulders into the hospital.

Heizo comes out of the driver's side of the truck, saying, "All right everyone, you should all have been given your assignments before we left, so you know what to do." The day they had left had been the day the survivors left Hope's Peak. "Masaru, you don't have to help with this if you don't want to."

As the group members rush to unload the bodies from the truck and take them to the morgue for storage, Masaru staggers over to two women standing by themselves. One woman, Juria, is wearing a navy blue kimono with cherry blossoms on it, and her black hair is tied up in a bun. The other woman, Miko, is wearing decorative glasses, a white shirt with cherry blossoms on it, and loose-fitting jeans. A pink headband keeps her shoulder-length black hair away from her face.

"So," Miko inquires, "how'd it go?"

Masaru pants, "I fainted…two-thirds of the way through loading the bodies."

"What happened?" asks Juria.

"…Celestia's body was in worse condition than I thought it would be."

Juria says, "Which one was Celestia again?"

Miko replies, "The one that got hit by the fire truck."

"…Oh."

"Anyway, are you okay? You didn't hit your head or anything?"

Masaru insists, "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"We're your sisters. It's our JOB to worry about you."

Juria states, "That sounds more like something a parent would say."

Miko says, "…Anyway, what happens now?"

Masaru says, "There's going to be a meeting once all the bodies have been put into storage. Not sure what it'll be about, though. Come on."

He motions towards the main entrance and the three of them head inside.

0~*~0

If Masaru had to name just one thing about the hospital that he liked, it would have to be how clean it was. Any trash was picked up, the floors and windows (now made out of plexiglass) were washed every other week or so, and the carpets…well, he wasn't sure how they were cleaned, but they were definitely cleaned. It gave the hospital a comforting appearance of semi-normality.

The air is kept breathable via an air purifier from Towa City, the water from the underground river under the hospital is filtered clean of pollutants, and the food is either scavenged from the city or grown at the hospital. All in all, it's a rather pleasant place to live, especially when compared to the post-apocalyptic world outside (and Masaru had spent a considerable amount of time living in the latter).

The hospital was 20 stories tall, with the huge conference room on the 5th floor. The seats were arranged in circular rows, raised like gym bleachers. Masaru, Miko, and Juria sit in the middle of the front row. Masaru sits with his back straight and his hands on his thighs, Miko leans over the table in front of her with her head resting in her hands, and Juria leans back in her seat while playing with a bright blue Slinky. Masaru keeps a close eye on the stream of adults filling up the remaining seats. Eventually, a couple enters the room, both in their late forties. The woman's black hair is tied up in a bun and she's wearing a snow white kimono. The man has blond, buzzcut hair and a big bushy mustache. He has big muscles and is a foot taller than the woman in the kimono. Upon seeing them, Masaru waves to them, motioning them over. Noticing him, the couple walks over to the siblings. The woman sits between Juria and Miko, and the man sits next to Masaru.

The man looks at Masaru's blond hair, twice as long as his own, and says, "Have you been growing out your hair?"

Masaru smirks. "Hey Dad."

By then, everyone's finished filing into the room and have taken a seat somewhere. Heizo comes through the doors and walks over to the whiteboard at the front of the room. Natsuki, holding a megaphone, follows him in and sits down on a swivel stool next to the whiteboard.

Heizo takes a microphone out of his coat pocket and taps on the end, the sound echoing from unseen speakers.

"Is this thing on? Can everyone hear me? Okay…"

Heizo turns toward the crowd, brushing some hair out of his face. "First off, I would like to thank you all for coming here. Now, as some of you know, less than ten minutes ago, we transported the bodies of all the students who died in the High School Life of Mutual Killing to this hospital. Many people have asked me why. Why bring the dead bodies of the nine victims of the High School Life of Mutual Killing to this hospital? Well, the reason is very straightforward; I'm going to bring them back to life."

There's a pause, followed by almost everyone in the room speaking at once.

"WHAT!?"

"But-! But that's impossible!"

Juria drops her slinky.

Miko says, "That's what I thought."

Masaru's parents just…stare.

Masaru, who already knew, doesn't react at all.

Natsuki holds up the megaphone. "HEY! QUIET! LET HIM EXPLAIN!"

Once everyone's stopped talking, Heizo says, "Ah, thank you, Natsuki. Anyway, I'm sure that all of you are familiar with the serum I developed some time ago as well as its powerful healing properties. I shall use the serum to revive them."

Someone raises their hand.

"Yes?"

"Um… I-I don't see how the serum could do that…"

"True; by itself, the serum won't be very effective. Some of those kids, trying to revive them as they are now would be impossible. As such, I'll be operating on them beforehand to reconstruct their bodies. And that is why I've called this meeting: I need a volunteer to assist me."

There are a few murmurs from the crowd.

"This volunteer shall assist me in the reconstructive surgeries. Once the kids have been revived, the volunteer shall be in charge of…basically taking care of them. I would do it myself, but as the leader of this establishment and the father of an adolescent girl, it would be impossible for me to constantly keep an eye on them."

Somebody near the back raises their hand.

"Yes?"

"Just one volunteer?"

"If anybody else wishes to assist them, they are free to do so. But only the volunteer shall have the official responsibility of caretaker. They must also have permission from the volunteer, me, or Hiyoko."

Another person speaks up. "So what exactly are _you_ going to do?"

"After the students have been revived, I will provide care for them in the event of serious illness or injury, especially if surgery is required. Natsuki" –Masaru notices that Natsuki is spinning on her swivel chair - "will help with smaller health issues… And, uh, my wife will…help with any psychological issues that may arise…" Heizo keeps glancing back at the spinning Natsuki, clearly distracted by her. "The volunteer shall be given a device that will, uh, immediately notify them if any health issues arise. I know that's not very much information, um, but I've learned to be careful with how much information I give out at once. It was a hard-learned lesson too… Do I have any volunteers?"

There is silence for several seconds. A few start to raise their hands or speak up, but they quickly change their minds.

Then, a voice in the front says, "I volunteer, sir."

All eyes turn towards the person who had spoken.

It was-!

"Masaru Kurohiko!?"

"Yes. Me," says Masaru with his hand raised.

Miko stares at him for a few moments before saying, "Okay, you really need to get your head checked."

"You think I hit my head?" Masaru asks with a slightly sarcastic tone.

Heizo replied, "He was caught before he could hit anything after he fainted, and I checked him after he woke up. He should be absolutely fine…"

Juria says, "…Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I'm absolutely certain," he affirms, glancing off to the side.

Heizo quickly follows his line of sight. His gaze rests on a woman with pinkish-gray hair standing next to the door.

Heizo stares at her through the corners of his eyes for a few moments before saying, "Is there anyone else who would like to volunteer?"

This time, there is only silence.

"…All right then. In that case, this meeting is adjourned."

He motions Masaru over to him (who promptly jumps over the desk in front of him without even touching it) as he walks over to Natsuki and whispers, "Make sure nobody eavesdrops on us."

Natsuki, somewhat distracted by Masaru's leap, says, "Huh? Oh, sure."

She then gets up and starts ushering the adults out the door. After everyone's left, the two men wait while Natsuki thoroughly checks all the rows to make sure nobody's hiding under the desks. After she's done with that, she takes one final look out the door before turning to the two men and giving them a thumbs-up sign.

Heizo turns to Masaru and quietly says, "Mr. Kurohiko, may I ask why you volunteered for this? You…don't exactly seem like the parenting type…and you fainted while we were loading Celestia's body…"

Masaru, just as quietly, says, "I'm not sure about being the parenting type, but I'm definitely the brotherly type; just ask my sisters. And Celeste was worse off than I thought she would be, though it was probably the smell that did me in more than anything else. As for why I volunteered…I felt it would be beneficial for me."

"…Beneficial in what way?"

"…I feel like…I need to learn how to really care about people that aren't my family. And I felt like this was a good way to start… Besides, I'm very curious about how this entire process is going to work."

Heizo stares at him for several moments before saying, "…I'm not going to ask what your childhood was like."

The two men stand in silence for several awkward moments before Heizo says, "So…shall we get going?"

Masaru's eyes widen slightly. "What? We're-We're doing the operations today?"

"Yes. The sooner we operate on them, the sooner we can start the process of reviving them, and the sooner we can start the process of reviving them, the sooner we can reunite them with the survivors…hopefully."

"Hopefully?"

"We'll have to see how they are when we get to that point. In the meantime…I shall personally ensure that you are kept well-informed. There will be some questions I won't be able to answer…but you will be kept informed of everything you need to know."

"…Thank you."

**Author's note: I'll be aiming for at least 2,000 words per chapter, so…you won't have to worry about short chapters, I guess. Next chapter: the operations commence!**


	3. The Operations

**Please let me know if I make a medical mistake. I know almost nothing about how to treat broken bones.**

"And your name is-?"

"Hiyoko Sasaki," answers Mrs. Sasaki.

"Hiyoko Sasaki!?" exclaims Masaru. "…Are you that famous psychologist who-?"

"I'm not sure if 'famous' is the right word…but I won't deny that I was quite well-known."

"No," argues Heizo, "you were famous. Of course, part of that was probably because of me…"

"Huh?" says Masaru.

"I am currently suffering from amnesia. I've been able to recall many things, but there's much I don't remember," Hiyoko explains.

Masaru looks back at Heizo, who looks strangely nervous.

"Uh-I…I didn't know about that… A-Anyway that's not what I was confused about."

"Oh?" inquires Hiyoko. "Then what was it?"

"Um… How would your husband be part of the reason that you were famous…?"

"When you're the spouse of an Ultimate, you're bound to get some fame from that alone."

Masaru's eyes go wide. "'Spouse of an Ultimate…?' What…?"

"I graduated from Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Surgeon," explains Heizo. "Since then, I have gained experience in practically every branch of medicine there is."

"You went to Hope's Peak Academy!?" yells Masaru.

"Yes," Heizo says flatly. "It's how I knew the layout of the school so well."

"I went there too!" exclaims Natsuki.

Masaru turns toward her, surprised. "Huh?"

"I remembered on the way back to the hospital. Don't remember much, though…"

"'Remembered…?' You have amnesia too? Wait, you went to Hope's Peak!?"

"Yes. And yes. I was the Ultimate Artist!"

"The Ultimate Artist…" Masaru repeats slowly.

"Yeah. The Tragedy happened before I could graduate, though…"

Curious, Masaru asks, "Were you part of Class 78?"

"No. I entered a year before them. …I did meet some of them, though."

Masaru raises an eyebrow. "I see. So how'd you avoid being killed when the Despairing Incident hit?"

"Um…" Natsuki quickly glances at Heizo. "Well, I don't remember what happened leading up to The Tragedy… But I do know that Daddy saved me, and I also know that-."

"Dr. Sasaki," a voice says suddenly.

Masaru turns in its direction. It's a man that he's seen a few times before but doesn't know the name of. The man has a sterile gown and gloves on.

"Sayaka's body is ready for surgery."

"Excellent timing!" Heizo exclaims before grabbing Masaru's arm and dragging him out of the hallway and into the room the other man had just come out of. Inside the room are sterile gowns, gloves, surgical hair nets (or whatever they're called), and surgical masks.

As Heizo assisted Masaru in putting them on, Masaru asks, "Dr. Sasaki, why are we putting on all this stuff when we'll be operating on a dead body?"

"Part of it is pure habit, part of it is to keep us from getting any diseases from the bodies, and part of it is to reduce the chances of the wounds getting infected once they come back to life," Heizo replies.

_But,_ thinks Masaru, _we're operating on dead bodies…_

0~*~0

The Operating Room is chillier than Masaru thought it would be, but it's not too bad. Masaru had endured far worse for days at a time. On the wall is a chart with medical info on it, presumably Sayaka's. Next to it is an x-ray of a wrist.

_Oh yeah,_ Masaru thinks. _I forgot that Sayaka's right wrist was broken._

And there, on a table in the center of the room, under the glare of giant lights, is Sayaka Maizono. Her body from the waist down is covered by a blue sheet, but the rest of her is exposed to the world—or at least to the room.

"Um…sir?" Masaru asks uneasily.

"Yes?"

"Why is…why is her chest exposed like that?"

"Because I'll need to open it up."

"But…she wasn't stabbed in the chest…"

"You'll see."

Next to the table Sayaka's lying on is a smaller, wheeled table, and on that table is a tray with various medical instruments on it. There are syringes, sutures, forceps, plastic bottles, scalpels, paintbrushes, and a bunch of other stuff that Masaru doesn't know the name of. But what stands out the most to Masaru is the fist-sized metal apparatus that's separate from the other items.

Masaru picks it up and asks, "Um… I was wondering, what is this thing? Because I _know_ it's not a medical instrument."

Heizo chuckles and says, "You're right. It's not."

"…Then what is it?"

"I'll tell you after your own surgery."

"…My own?"

"I'll tell you more after we're done with Sayaka. We'll have more time to talk then."

"…"

"All right, so here's how this is going to work: when I ask for a particular tool, you take the tool from the tray and give it to me. When I hand you a tool, you take it and place back on the tray. Occasionally, I may ask you to hold something in place. Do you understand?"

"…Yes." _I feel like he was trying to insult my intelligence._

"Good. Scalpel."

The first thing Heizo does is widen the stab wound in Sayaka's skin to make the internal damage easier to access. He's insistent on pointing out the layers of skin, muscle, and the subcutaneous layer of fat, which Masaru finds genuinely interesting. Heizo sutures the internal lacerations with such precision, care, and speed, that Masaru can't help but feel awed. It feels like such a childish thing to be awed by, but it's truly incredible.

_I shouldn't expect anything less from the Ultimate Surgeon, I guess._

Soon, Heizo finishes with the internal lacerations and moves on to the external wound. He finishes even faster than before. As soon as he finishes suturing the wound, Heizo dashes over to the wall, carefully examining Sayaka's x-ray. After about a minute or two, he dashes back over to the operating table and stands by Sayaka's right wrist. Working very, very, _very_ carefully, Heizo manages to open up her wrist without severing any veins, nerves, or tendons, and exposes the broken bones of her wrist.

Masaru doesn't bother asking what exactly he's doing. He can already guess the answer. Or at least he thought he could.

"Masaru, do you see that small measuring beaker with the white goop inside?"

"Um…I think so." _Never thought I'd hear him say "goop."_

"Hand me that and the smallest paintbrush."

Masaru hands him both. "What is that stuff?"

"An accidental discovery I made while perfecting the formula for the serum. It's basically an organic glue that, when it dries, creates a semi-flexible substance that is extremely durable. It's very useful for holding together bones while they're healing."

"But it can still break, right?"

"Of course. But it'd take a considerable amount of force to do that."

Heizo has Masaru hold the broken bones together with surgical tools as he carefully paints the glue over the fractures. They repeat this until all of the broken bones are glued back together.

"By the way," Masaru asks, "how long does it take to dry?"

"At the thickness I'm applying it at, less than a minute."

When all the glue has dried, Heizo sutures Sayaka's wrist closed with thread so thin and tiny, Masaru is amazed that it doesn't snap. When he's finished, Heizo puts a splint on Sayaka's wrist to keep it from moving.

"Are we done?" asks Masaru.

Heizo doesn't respond.

"Dr. Sasaki?"

"I'm thinking."

Masaru stays silent as Heizo leans over Sayaka's body, his gaze switching between the girl and the strange metal apparatus still on the tray.

After about two minutes, Heizo says, "…Hand me the syringe with the opaque white stuff in it."

Masaru hands him the syringe and Heizo injects the contents into Sayaka's left arm.

"Okay. Now we're done."

"Uh, what about the metal thing?"

"I changed my mind."

0~*~0

After examining Sayaka's body one more time to make sure there aren't any other injuries, Heizo and Masaru leave the O.R. A group of nurse technicians rush in to prep the next body for surgery, while another group takes Sayaka's body…somewhere else.

Out in the hallway, Natsuki and Hiyoko are nowhere to be seen.

"So," Masaru asks, "what were you talking about when you said, 'your own surgery'?"

"Have you eaten anything within the last 24 hours?" Heizo inquires.

Masaru blinks. "Um… No. I haven't."

"Then after we're done with the surgeries, you'll be having your own next…"

"…Considering what we're doing, that sounds kinda menacing… And why am I having surgery?"

"To implant the device that will allow you to keep track of the teens' health."

"…Implant?"

"Well, only a few wires will actually be under your skin. The device itself will be grafted to your forearm."

"Wires…? Grafted…? Forearm…?"

"The device will be powered by your internal body chemistry and neural impulses. The grafting will be to keep the device from coming loose and make it harder for someone to rip it off your forearm. Are you right-handed or left-handed?"

"…What?"

"Are you right-handed or left-handed?"

"I'm ambidextrous."

Heizo is silent for several moments. "…Which hand do you use more often?"

"It's…about equal."

Heizo goes silent again.

After a few more moments, Masaru says, "Though I'd prefer it if you put it on my left forearm."

"…Okay."

"…By the way, sir…"

"What?"

Masaru leans in closer and asks, "Why does your family have amnesia?"

Heizo simply stands there with his mouth wide open. "Uh…"

Just then, a nurse technician pokes his head out into the hallway. "Doctor, the next body is ready."

"Excellent!"

Heizo then grabs Masaru's arm and drags him into the OR.

_If Psyche-locks were real,_ thinks Masaru,_ this guy'd have way more than five._

0~*~0

The body lying on the operating table isn't the one Masaru thought he'd be seeing. "Leon?"

"Yep."

"What about, um…Mukuro Ikusaba?"

"Because of the severe burns covering her upper body, I have her body soaking in a bath of serum."

"Why can't we do that for the other bodies?"

"The serum bath is only effective for burns and open wounds. Some of these kids… Well, I don't think I have to tell you."

Masaru notices that there's a lot of bone glue on the tray this time, along with a container filled with blue paste. There's also a yellow bucket next to the tray.

"What's the bucket for?" asks Masaru.

"In case you need to throw up," replies Heizo.

When Masaru takes a closer look at the body, he immediately realizes why Heizo thought he might throw up. Seeing Leon's face in the dim light of the Biology Lab had been bad enough; but now, under the bright light of the giant lamps and with absolutely nothing covering his body, Masaru is starting to understand just how severe Leon's injuries really are. That feeling only deepens when he sees that there's a thick folder on the table under the x-ray.

"Oh man…" he groans.

"If at any point you feel like you're going to faint," Heizo says, "let me know." He pauses. "Oh, and lie down on the floor so you won't hit anything."

Masaru gulps. "Got it…"

0~*~0

There aren't any broken bones in Leon's feet. The bones in his legs are cracked in several places, but aren't fractured all the way through. Still, Heizo applies some blue paste ("the serum in gel form," he says) to the cracks.

They then move on to Leon's arms and hands, which are considerably more damaged. They do the same thing they did with Sayaka's wrist: paint the bone glue over the fractures to hold them together. Doing both arms must take half an hour. But they still get it done.

_You know,_ Masaru thinks, _this isn't so bad._

And then they get to Leon's torso.

Leon's ribcage is broken in a few places along his sides and back, but the front is surprisingly intact. Masaru figures that Leon's arms took the brunt of the trauma. Leon's heart and lungs are completely intact, minor decomposition aside.

As for his abdominal cavity…the state of Leon's internal organs makes Masaru ask Heizo if he can lie down (he allows him to).

And the less said about the state of Leon's skull, the better. The least disturbing problem is his _nine missing teeth_; Heizo tells him that someone else will make and put in implants to replace the teeth.

When they're _finally_ done, Masaru is so shaken by the experience that he doesn't say a word to Heizo as they wait in the hallway for the next body.

0~*~0

For Chihiro Fujisaki's body (covered to the neck this time), Heizo starts by shaving off the hair around Chihiro's head wound. They have to fish two or three small skull fragments out of Chihiro's brain, but it's not as bad as Leon's. Still, Heizo puts a considerable amount of serum gel on Chihiro's brain. He puts a thin layer of bone glue over the cracked parts of Chihiro's skull and puts a small skin graft (_when did he have time for that?_) over the exposed skull.

0~*~0

They do almost the exact same thing for Kiyotaka Ishimaru, except they don't have to fish skull fragments out of his brain.

Masaru can't resist the opportunity to see if Taka's bushy eyebrows and red eyes are actually real.

0~*~0

For Hifumi Yamada's body, Heizo decides to do something a little…different.

"You're going to what…?" Masaru says slowly.

"I'm going to remove his excess body fat."

"…Why!?" Masaru demands.

"Handling his body and reviving him will be much easier without the excess weight," Heizo explains. "Of course, it may take some time for his body to get used the sudden weight loss… But I'll be ready if anything major happens."

…_This guy unnerves me._ "All right, but…won't he just, um…regain the weight back?"

"…Considering the state of the world and our current food supplies, getting his weight back to its current point after we're done would be…extremely difficult."

"How much does he weigh now?"

"342 pounds."

Masaru is silent for several moments. "Th-th-three hundred…"

"Can we get started with the operation already?"

The first thing they do is deal with Hifumi's head wound. Somehow, Taka's head wound seems worse in comparison.

After that, they start removing Hifumi's excess body fat. They remove fat from his torso, neck, and limbs. The layer of fat in Hifumi's torso in particular is thick enough for Masaru to scoop it out with his bare gloved hands. The network of blood vessels doesn't make it any easier. They dump the fat into large medical waste buckets next to the operating table.

When they've finally removed most, if not all, of the excess fat, Masaru looks at the buckets and queasily says, "Dear god…how much fat did we take out…?"

"We won't know the exact number until we weigh him again," Heizo replies, "but if I had to guess…I'd say at least 200 pounds."

"T-two hundred…" Masaru stammers, his face turning pale.

"We're not done yet, though."

"…We're not?"

"We still need to deal with the excess skin."

"Excess…skin…"

The rest of the operation is a blur to Masaru. He doesn't even glance at Hifumi as he leaves.

When they get into the hallway, Masaru stumbles into the nearest men's bathroom and throws up bile in one of the toilets. Heizo waits outside the stall, reassuring Masaru in a calm voice.

They don't start surgery on the next body until Masaru stops feeling nauseous.

0~*~0

Masaru isn't sure if it's because he's getting used to seeing dead bodies up close or if it's the lack of a bad smell, but he doesn't feel lightheaded when he sees Celeste's body. He still cringes, but that's unsurprising. Celeste's body is mangled and covered in open wounds. She looks even worse than Leon.

"Typical traffic accident victim," Heizo observes.

"Huh?"

"She looks exactly like a typical traffic accident victim."

"Dead or alive?"

"…I have operated on people with worse-looking injuries than these that survived their ordeal."

Masaru tries to avoid imagining what that would look like.

Celeste's internal injuries are both better and worse than Leon's. Her ribs are smashed and her lungs are punctured (though her heart is surprisingly intact). However, most of the organs in her abdominal cavity, though damaged, are clearly recognizable. Several bones in her skull are broken but, again, it's not as bad as Leon's.

0~*~0

This time, when they're in the hallway, Masaru feels like talking.

"Dr. Sasaki…"

"Yes?"

"There's something I forgot to ask earlier…"

"What?"

"Are you trying to scare me?"

"Scare you? Why would I be trying to scare you?"

"…Let me be more specific. Are you trying to scare me because I scare you?"

Heizo is silent for what feels like an eternity. Then…

"…You know…to be perfectly honest…I'm not sure what to think of you."

Masaru isn't sure what to say in response, so he just nods and stays quiet.

0~*~0

Sakura Ogami is next. Watching the broadcast, Masaru wasn't as intimidated by her as he thought he would be. But now, standing next to her extremely muscular body, even though he knows what she was really like, even though she's dead, he feels more intimidated than ever before in his life.

After removing some glass pieces out of her hair and scalp, Heizo rubs some serum gel into her head wounds. Masaru think that shaving that part of her head would make it easier (and be more sanitary), but he decides not to argue with the doctor. Afterwards, Heizo flushes out her digestive system to remove all traces of the poison (the less said about the specifics, the better), though he lines her digestive tract with various kinds of bacteria afterwards ("Bacteria play an important role in the digestive process. …Maybe I should do this for the rest of the kids after your surgery").

0~*~0

"So your daughter went to Hope's Peak as the Ultimate Artist?"

"Yep."

"What kind of art?"

"Painting, drawing, digital art, even a bit of sculpting and pottery. But mostly painting and drawing."

"Hmm." Masaru raised an eyebrow. "I never thought she'd be the artistic type."

"Yes, well, she's had a lot of time to practice."

"Whaddaya mean?"

"Oh, uh…"

"How'd she get started?"

"…Apparently, one day, when she was 4 years old, she went up to Hiyoko and told her she was bored, and Hiyoko gave her a piece of paper and some crayons and told her to draw something. From then on, whenever Suki got bored, she'd draw something. And it only grew from there."

There's an awkward pause.

After a while, Masaru says, "So… Your daughter…switches from excitable to shy rather quickly…don't you think?"

Heizo puts his hands on his hips and looks off to the side. "Yeah, I don't know why she does that. There are times when I wonder if I should be concerned."

Masaru thinks, _Somehow, that statement makes ME concerned…_

"Of course, she has amnesia, so that might be a factor."

"Why does your daughter have amnesia?"

Heizo just keeps staring off to the side, not saying a word.

"At least he didn't give me a technical explanation…" Masaru mumbles.

Heizo briefly glances up at Masaru, but still doesn't say anything.

They're silent until the next body is ready.

0~*~0

"Is that-?"

"Mukuro Ikusaba."

Lying there on the operating table, the only sign that she was ever burned is the unnatural paleness of her new skin, the lack of any hair on her head, and the lack of freckles on her face (which Masaru NEVER would've noticed had Natsuki not pointed it out to him). To say it was eerie would be an understatement.

Fortunately, the serum bath also healed her impalement wounds, so all they have to do is drain the excess serum from inside her body.

Masaru feels tempted to look at her eyes, but decides against it.

0~*~0

Masaru is surprised by the final body—not because of who it is (a simple process of elimination meant it had to be Mondo)—but because of the state of the body.

Mondo's body is lying on the operating table, completely intact. Even his hair is all there (at least, he THINKS it is; Mondo's ridiculous pompadour has completely fallen apart and his hair is now slicked back over his head).

"I'm not gonna ask," remarks Masaru.

"Ask what?" Heizo wonders.

"…Nevermind."

All they do is inject the opaque white stuff into Mondo's body, just like they've done at the end of each operation for each student.

0~*~0

Masaru groggily opens his eyes.

_Huh? What happened?_

He remembers walking out of the O.R. ahead of Dr. Sasaki, and then…waking up here.

He feels a dull throbbing in his left forearm. Even without looking, he knows what it is.

_So they put it in already… But why can't I remember…?_

A voice beside him softly says, "I didn't know you had tattoos."

Masaru rolls his head in the direction of the voice.

"Oh. Hi, Natsuki. Why…?"

He feels a wave of exhaustion come over him. When he opens his eyes again, she's sitting in a different position, looking bored.

Masaru tries again. "Why are you here?"

"Daddy wanted me to show you how to use that device, but I guess we should wait until the anesthesia's worn off, shouldn't we?"

"Anesthe- Oh. Right."

There's a brief silence, and Masaru slips into unconscious again.

When he wakes up this time, Natsuki's fallen asleep too, and she's resting her head on Masaru's abdomen.

Feeling less groggy than he did the first time he woke up, he gently nudges Natsuki's head with his hand.

"Hey. Natsuki. Wake up. My stomach is not a pillow."

Natsuki opens her eyes to look at him. "Oh, hi. Are you going to stay awake this time?"

"Maybe. You know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"Your voice…sounds a lot like…hers."

"You mean Junko Enoshima's?" Natsuki laughs dryly. "People have told me stuff like that…ever since she started modeling. I've gotten…really tired of it."

"Oh. So, you want me to not bring it up again?"

"If you can."

"By the way…"

"What?"

"Why do you and your mom have amnesia?"

Natsuki briefly looks away before answering. "…Daddy wouldn't want me to tell you."

"Heh. Figures. Why not?"

"I'm not sure. I think it has something to do with something that happened in the past that I don't remember. But I could be wrong."

_Ain't that kinda the definition of amnesia?_

There's silence. Masaru turns his head to look at his left forearm. There's a rectangular, black device on his forearm, and in the center of that device are three rows of five small buttons. He'd press the buttons, but Natsuki is lying on his right arm, and he doesn't think he has the energy to try pressing the buttons with his nose. So he opts for one last question.

"Natsuki, you asked something back at Hope's Peak; what was it?"

"I asked you if you thought we'd be able to pull off Operation: Revival of Hope."

"Do you think so?"

"I KNOW so."

"What makes you so certain?"

There's an oddly pained look in her expression. "…Daddy wouldn't want me to tell you."

**Author's note: …Dear…god… This chapter ended up being MUCH longer than I thought it would be. So at my current rate of uploading chapters at about one per month…I may not retain interest in this story long enough to finish it. Oh well. We'll just have to see.**

**On a side note, I got Dangan Ronpa 1 and 2 for Christmas! Can't wait to play them!**


	4. Awakening

**Little fun fact: when I first started writing this story, both Hiyoko and Natsuki were going to be dead, then just Hiyoko (replaced by her niece), then I let both of them live. Also, when I first started writing chapter 3, Natsuki was going to be the Ultimate Nutritionist…then I changed it for plot\backstory reasons and because being a nutritionist is a little harder to demonstrate.**

Masaru is standing next to Sayaka's bedside, staring down at her with his arms crossed. He looks down at the device on his left forearm. Nine of the fifteen buttons are glowing faintly. He holds out his arm and presses the top leftmost button. A holographic display pops up. The name "Sayaka Maizono" is at the top. At the center, from top to bottom, is a semi-transparent diagram of her body. Next to the diagram are several stats and buttons, but only one catches Masaru's eye: "Status: Deceased".

_Well, that ain't surprisin',_ Masaru thinks.

He presses the button on the device again, and the display closes. He's been told that he can interact with the display, but so far he hasn't needed to.

It's been ten days since the operations to fix the students' bodies. He's learned about everything that Hiyoko and Natsuki can remember, inadvertently helped them regain a few memories, seen Natsuki's art gallery ("YOU made all this!?"), and, at Dr. Sasaki's request, checked all the students every day for any sign of life. He was…more than a little uncomfortable at the thought of…the level of interaction he would have to perform with the dead bodies to check for signs of life, so he mainly resorted to using the device's holographic display.

Masaru wipes his forehead with his sleeve. He is, as usual, wearing a long-sleeved shirt (though the left sleeve had been cut off at the elbow so that it wouldn't obscure the device). Heizo's insistence at keeping the rooms each body was in at a high temperature ("I don't want to risk the students having hypothermia when they wake up") did nothing to make checking the bodies any more comfortable. Masaru had initially been afraid that it would make the bodies start to stink, but so far he hasn't smelled a single whiff of a decaying body (and he knows VERY well what those smell like).

On the other side of Sayaka's bed is a complex-looking machine pumping a purplish-red mixture of serum and Sayaka's blood type (mostly blood) into her body via two tubes, one in each arm. (Masaru doesn't think that two tubes are enough, but it seems to work, so who's he to complain?) As Heizo had explained, the machine also apparently oxygenated the blood and removed any waste products ("It's basically a heart machine, an iron lung, and a dialysis machine all rolled into one."). There are straps holding down Sayaka's arms, chest, and hips (though the one on the latter is covered by the blanket on Sayaka's body).

Masaru is honestly impressed by how much Heizo has taken into consideration, but he's extremely doubtful that anything's going to happen. Nobody, especially people who have been dead as long as these teens have been, can come back to life.

Granted, Sayaka's body seems to be in better condition now than it had been during the operation but still—

…_Beep…_

Masaru freezes. "What…" he murmurs to himself, "was that?"

…_Beep…_

Masaru looks down at the device on his arm.

…_Beep…_

The top leftmost button flashes white at the same time as the beep. Without thinking, he puts his hand on Sayaka's chest, right over her heart.

…_Beep…_

This time, when he hears the beep, he feels a slight movement beneath his fingers.

_N-No way…_

He presses down harder on her chest. Sure enough, when the next beep comes, he feels the movement under his fingers again. And it's unmistakably a heartbeat.

It's then that he also realizes that Sayaka's chest is moving up and down slightly.

Masaru tries to say something, but nothing comes out. After a few tries, he manages to squeak out, "S-Sayaka?"

Sayaka's eyes suddenly fly open. And she SCREAMS.

Deeply startled, Masaru jumps back, landing on his bottom and backing up until he's against the wall.

Sayaka is screaming as though she's possessed, and convulsing like it too. Masaru finally realizes the purpose of the straps: to keep the students from injuring themselves as they convulse like this.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started, Sayaka's screaming and convulsions stop. She slumps back into the bed, panting heavily. After she catches her breath, she starts looking around, taking in her surroundings.

A million thoughts are running through Masaru's mind and it feels like none of them are being processed. His mind eventually settles on one: _What the flyin' hell just happened?_

That thought quickly vanishes when he realizes that Sayaka is staring right at him. They stare at each other for what feels like hours. Masaru tries to say something, anything, but his vocal cords refuse to function.

Sayaka looks down at herself, her gaze momentarily lingering on the splint on her right wrist, and tugs on her restraints. She looks back at him, but all he does is stare at her vacantly. She tugs at the straps again, grunting.

It takes him a few seconds to realize what she's trying to say.

_She wants me to undo the straps._

No longer capable of rational thought, Masaru slowly stands up, his whole body trembling. Sayaka waits patiently as Masaru stumbles over to her bedside. His hands tremble uncontrollably as he fumbles with the strap holding down her right arm. When he finally manages to undo the strap, he moves to the other side of her bed and begins undoing the strap holding down her left arm. Once he's done that, he shuts off the machine next to him and takes the tubes out of her arms. Strangely, the small wounds left behind don't bleed.

Sayaka, whose hands aren't trembling, quickly undoes the straps holding down her chest and hips. Masaru quickly rushes back to the other side of Sayaka's bed as she flings the blanket off of her legs and swings them over the side of the bed. She sits up awkwardly, her torso oddly stiff.

Sayaka edges off of the bed, looking somewhat hesitant. Her feet hit the floor…and she almost immediately collapses. Masaru quickly catches her and helps her stand back up. He supports her as she takes a few shaky steps. Within moments, she's walking just fine.

As Sayaka starts running her hands over the hospital gown she's wearing, Masaru can't help but stare. His mind is a complete blank, unable to comprehend that someone who was dead not even ten minutes ago—someone he saw die on national television—is now standing right in front of him, very much alive.

Without thinking, he says, "Sayaka?" She looks up at him. "Is…is that really you?"

She nods almost immediately.

"Yeah…" Masaru mumbles absentmindedly.

He suddenly feels a scream building inside him.

Before he can let it out, though, he hears another beeping noise from the device on his forearm. Sayaka stares at it as Masaru holds the device up to his face. The middle button in the top row is blinking. Leon.

Masaru looks up at Sayaka, then back at the device before dashing out of the room at top speed. Sayaka, confused, follows him close behind.

Masaru enters the room just as Leon starts screaming. Masaru freezes and feels a chill run up his spine. Leon's scream sounds just like it did during his execution.

Leon's screaming and convulsions last about as long as Sayaka's did. But this time, when they're over, Leon doesn't try to look around. Instead, he keeps his eyes shut tightly while he grits his teeth, grunting in pain. Masaru immediately rushes forward and undoes all of Leon's restraints, but Leon doesn't even try to move. Or open his eyes.

Masaru is debating whether or not to turn off the machine and remove the tubes from Leon's arms when the device on his forearm starts beeping again.

Deciding to leave the tubes in for now, Masaru once again dashes out of the room at top speed. Sayaka, waiting outside the door, once again follows him.

This time, the one to awaken is Kiyotaka, and Sayaka follows Masaru into the room. Her eyes go wide when she sees Taka.

After Taka's screaming and convulsing stop, Masaru undoes Taka's straps, turns off the machine, and takes the tubes out of his arms. Taka easily sits up on the bed (though he does hold a hand to the wound on his head, which is covered in bandages).

Next is Hifumi, whose head wound is also wrapped in bandages, and Mukuro. Masaru can't think of how to describe the expression on her face as he undoes her straps.

After that is Celeste, who, like Leon, makes no attempt to get out of bed, though she keeps her eyes open the whole time.

Next up is Mondo, whose screams aren't as loud and convulsions aren't as violent as everyone else's was, nor do they last as long. Masaru wonders if it's a sign that something's wrong with Mondo.

Next after Mondo is Sakura. Masaru waits until she's stopped screaming before he hesitantly opens the door. When he enters the room, the straps holding down Sakura's arms and chest are broken, and she's in the process of undoing the one holding down her hips.

Masaru looks at the device again. Eight of the fifteen buttons are lit. Sayaka, who's followed Masaru the whole time, points at the only button in the top row that's still not on.

"Chihiro," breathes Masaru.

Sayaka bites her lower lip, her eyes filled with concern.

And it's at that moment that Masaru notices the color of each of the lit buttons.

Sayaka's is a mix of green and yellow; Mukuro, Mondo, Taka, Hifumi, and Sakura's are blue; Celeste's is an orange-ish yellow; and Leon's is a solid orange.

Just as he starts to consider asking Dr. Sasaki what the different colors mean, he hears a beeping sound, and Chihiro's button starts flashing.

Masaru looks up at Sayaka then back at the device before rushing out of Sakura's room and into Chihiro's room, Sayaka still following him.

0~*~0

The instant Masaru opens the door, he realizes that something is wrong. Chihiro, unlike everyone else, isn't screaming. Or even moving. His eyes are still closed.

He rushes up to Chihiro, puts his hand on his shoulder, and gives it a quick but gentle shake.

"Chihiro? Chihiro, can you hear me?"

Chihiro has no reaction at all.

Masaru holds the back of his hand up to Chihiro's nose and mouth. He can feel the rush of air from Chihiro's soft breaths.

_Why is this happening? This didn't happen with anyone else. Chihiro's alive…so why isn't he awake?_

Masaru holds up the device and presses Chihiro's button, which is now a mix of yellow and orange. The holographic display that comes up is the same color as the button. Sayaka is initially startled by the display, but she soon leans closer to get a look.

Masaru quickly finds what he's looking for: "Status: Comatose".

"Comatose…?" he mutters softly.

_What's goin' on? Did we not fix Chihiro's brain enough? Is that why Chihiro's in a coma…? …Dr. Sasaki should know._

Masaru rushes out of the room, taking care not to run into Sayaka. He dashes down the hallway of the recovery wing, not realizing that Sayaka is still following him.

It isn't until he's halfway down the hallway when he realizes that he has no idea where Dr. Sasaki is.

0~*~0

Masaru runs around, checking from room to room, for a good ten minutes or so. Finally, he decides to just ask.

The first person he asks is a woman standing outside a door.

Masaru skids to a halt and quickly asks, "Have you seen Dr. Sasaki?"

She gives him a weird look. "…No… Not recently…"

Masaru resumes running.

The second person he asks is a man tuning a violin.

"Have you seen Dr. Sasaki?"

"Nope."

The third person he asks is someone (Masaru can't tell if it's a man or a woman) pushing a trolley cart.

"…Have you seen Dr. Sasaki?"

"Um… I believe…he's in the 5th floor conference room."

"You sure?"

"…Pretty sure."

"Thanks."

He takes a few steps before nearly falling over.

"Are you okay?"

"…My ankle just started hurting."

He tries to put his weight on it, wincing and nearly falling over again. A few moments pass before both of them look at the empty trolley cart.

0~*~0

"So…" Natsuki says, sitting on the swivel stool, "when do you think they'll wake up?"

Heizo shrugs. "I don't know, sweetie."

Just then, the doors to the conference room swing open, and in comes Masaru riding the trolley cart, holding his arms out to the side and yelling, "_**DR. SASAKIIIIIIIIIIIII!**_"

Natsuki screams and falls off the stool.

Masaru doesn't stop yelling until the cart stops right in front of Heizo, whose eyes have become very wide.

"…What on earth…was with that dramatic entrance…?"

Masaru just stares for a few moments, still holding his arms out to the side.

"…My ankle was hurting."

The person pushing the cart says, "I was putting the cart back and…I got nothing else to do, so…what the heck."

Heizo stares at them for several moments before finally saying, "…Did you come to tell me that the students have woken up?"

Masaru's eyes widen and his arms drop slightly. "Um…not quite, but… How did you know about that?"

"Because Sayaka's running towards us."

Before either Masaru or the person pushing the cart can react, Sayaka stops next to Masaru and slumps, panting hard. Beads of sweat drip down her face.

"You followed me!?" exclaims Masaru as the person pushing the cart stares at her in disbelief.

Sayaka nods, still panting.

"…A-Anyway," says Masaru, turning back towards Heizo, "about that… Well… All of them are alive…but Chihiro hasn't woken up."

Heizo's expression suddenly becomes very serious. "What!? …What did the sensors say!?"

"Uh… They said he was comatose."

"Comatose…!?"

Heizo suddenly dashes out of the room. The person pushing the trolley cart with Masaru on it just as suddenly rushes after him, taking the cart and Masaru with them.

When they're all out of the room, Sayaka slumps again and groans. Just then, she notices Natsuki, still on the floor.

"S-Sayaka," Natsuki squeaks.

Sayaka, curious, tilts her head slightly and walks up to Natsuki, who's staring up at her with wide, blue eyes.

After staring at her for a few moments, Sayaka holds out her left hand to Natsuki. Natsuki hesitantly takes it, and Sayaka hoists her to her feet.

Natsuki is still staring at her with a stunned expression on her face. Sayaka starts to look concerned.

"Sayaka? Is that you?" Natsuki breathes. "Is that really…truly you?"

Sayaka nods slowly.

Natsuki puts her hands on Sayaka's shoulders. After a few seconds, she says, "I would hug you, but that would be really weird."

Sayaka stays completely silent.

"…Are you hungry?" Natsuki suddenly asks.

After thinking for a few seconds, Sayaka nods.

"Come on."

Natsuki takes Sayaka by the hand and leads her out of the conference room.


	5. Alive Again

**Originally, this was going to be part of chapter 4, but chapter 4 was long enough, so I just decided to stop where I did and split it into two chapters.**

By the time they get back to the recovery wing, all of the students capable of walking are now wandering around the hallway. All of them stare as Heizo rushes down the hallway and into the room with Chihiro's name on the door. They also stare as they watch Masaru follow him while riding a trolley cart being pushed by someone else they've never seen before.

Masaru and the other person stop in front of Chihiro's room just as Heizo comes back out.

"Masaru, let me see Chihiro's display."

Masaru presses Chihiro's button on the device and opens up the menus Heizo asks him to open up. He wonders why Heizo doesn't do it himself, but doesn't say anything.

After Heizo's looked through the appropriate menus, he stands up, looking deep in thought.

A few moments later, he says, "Kiyoshi, take Masaru and the students to the cafeteria."

Masaru says, "Kiyoshi?"

The person pushing the cart says, "I'm Kiyoshi."

_A unisex name. Fantastic._ "But, what about Leon and Celestia? They can't walk."

"I'll have food brought to them. But I don't want anyone getting in the way right now. So get going."

0~*~0

Fortunately, the cafeteria is on the same floor as the part of the recovery wing they're in, so they don't have to go too far.

But when they get there…

"Natsuki? Sayaka?" Both girls are already there and eating. They turn to look at Masaru.

"How'd you get here before us?" he asks.

Sayaka shrugs. Natsuki says, "I don't know. We just did. Oh, but we did wash our hands first."

"…Oh yeah." Masaru, still riding on the trolley cart, turns toward the rest of the students. "Uh, why don't you guys go wash your hands in that bathroom over there? Especially considering the state you guys were in…not too long ago…"

The surreality of the situation smacks him in the face again, and once again he feels a scream building. It doesn't come out, though.

After everyone's washed their hands (Hifumi was the first to come out, but Taka quickly dragged him back in), everyone grabs some food and sit at the tables. Masaru can't help but notice that all the food available right now is either soft or semi-solid.

Mukuro (Masaru still can't get over her lack of hair or eerily pale skin) sits next to Natsuki, Taka and Mondo sit together at another table, Hifumi sits by himself, and Sakura sits where she can see everyone else.

Not long afterwards, Sayaka, apparently fed up with awkwardly trying to use chopsticks with her left hand, starts eating her rice with her fingers. Upon noticing this, Taka storms over, grabs Sayaka's left hand, grabs her spoon, and shoves her spoon into her left hand, either oblivious to or ignoring the stares he's getting from just about everyone in the room. He doesn't go back to his seat until Sayaka starts eating her rice with the spoon.

Throughout the whole meal, Masaru, Kiyoshi, and especially Natsuki all attempt to make small talk with the formerly dead students. Their efforts are met with nods, shakes, shrugs, or vacant stares. A few of them open their mouths, but no sound comes out. It makes the atmosphere feel increasingly creepy.

Just as everyone finishes eating, Heizo comes into the room and goes over to Masaru.

"I've done all I can for Chihiro. All we can do now is wait for him to wake up."

"So why's he in a coma while everyone else is awake?"

"…I don't know."

"How can you not know? You're a doctor, aren't you?"

"Masaru, we're bringing the dead back to life. There's no telling what could happen. I do have a hunch, though…but I can't prove it right now. That reminds me, what did everyone do when they came back to life?"

"…Um… Everyone except Chihiro screamed loudly and convulsed violently. Mondo wasn't half as bad, though."

A slightly puzzled look crosses Heizo's face. After a few moments, he turns to Natsuki.

Before he can say anything, Natsuki says, "You wanna check their brain activity, right!?"

"…Yes."

"Okay! Is everyone done eating!?" All of the formerly dead students nod. "Then follow me! And don't worry about the dishes!"

She then leads everyone out of the room. Taka lingers for a bit, looking back at the leftover dishes on the tables, before quickly joining them.

Heizo stares after them for a few seconds before saying, "Have any of them talked?"

Masaru says, "Not a word."

Kiyoshi says, "It's kinda creepy."

Heizo has a thoughtful look on his face. "Hmm…"

"Um…" Masaru adds, "what about Leon and Celeste?"

"Celeste was eating oatmeal when I left her, and Leon…"

"…Yes?"

"…Leon looked like he was on the verge of passing out."

"He…did seem to be in a lot of pain after he woke up."

"…I need to go. Wait for us in the recovery wing."

At that, Heizo leaves.

Kiyoshi and Masaru remain in silence for about a minute, before Kiyoshi suddenly says, "How's your ankle?"

"Still kinda hurts."

"Even though you're not putting any weight on it?"

"Just moving it hurts."

"…I think you should have Heizo check it out later."

"Yeah, maybe." He lies down on the cart. "I'm tired."

"Considering everything that's happened today in such a short time, I'm not surprised."

Masaru closes his eyes…and almost immediately falls asleep.

0~*~0

When Masaru wakes up, the first thing he sees is Taka leaning directly above him, his face only a foot away from Masaru's.

"Oh, hi, Taka," he sleepily mumbles, his eyes closing again. Then they suddenly snap open. "Taka!?"

He sits up, Taka quickly moving out of the way. Masaru then realizes that there's a blanket covering him, and there's a pillow where his head was resting.

"Wha-? Who-who gave me this stuff…?"

Taka taps on Masaru's shoulder to get his attention, and then points to himself and Sakura.

"Y-You guys…?"

Taka nods.

Masaru looks away, blushing more heavily than he would like to.

_These kids hardly even know me and already they're concerned about me…? Wait…_

"How long have I been asleep?"

Taka holds up six fingers.

"…Please tell me that means 6 hours."

Taka nods once.

"Good. …I've been out for-!?"

Taka suddenly clamps his hand over Masaru's mouth and points to somewhere else. Masaru looks to where Taka is pointing and sees Sayaka standing in front of Leon's door.

"Is Dr. Sasaki in there?" Masaru asks.

Taka thinks for a few moments then shakes his head. Masaru holds up the device on his forearm and presses Leon's button.

Status: Semi-conscious.

_Semi-conscious? What does that even mean?_

"Uh… Sayaka, I think it's okay for you to go in. It says he's…semi-conscious-"

The instant he says that, Sayaka almost rips the door off its hinges as she dashes inside.

Slightly surprised by her reaction, Masaru, pointing to Leon's door, says, "Uh, would somebody mind…?"

Sakura wheels Masaru's trolley cart into Leon's room. The machine running the serum/blood mixture through Leon's body is now gone. Instead, there's an IV rack, with a bag feeding into Leon's left hand. A few tubes and wires connect Leon to a machine displaying his heart rate and blood pressure, among other things. As for Leon himself, his eyes are half-closed and his mouth is slightly agape. Masaru isn't close enough to tell for sure, but Leon doesn't seem to notice anyone in the room.

Sayaka is sitting in a chair to Leon's right, her hands in her lap. Masaru can't see her face, but he feels he doesn't need to.

_I wonder what she's thinking, seeing the man she tried to kill and yet ended up killing her…_

Sayaka slowly lifts her trembling left arm and reaches towards Leon. She gently grasps Leon's hand in hers.

Leon's head turns slightly in her direction…and his face lights up with recognition, his eyes widening and the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. Even his vitals perk up slightly.

Masaru is surprised at this reaction, but he's even more surprised by what happens next: Sayaka leans forward, letting go of Leon's hand, and rests her head on Leon's chest, gripping Leon's shoulders. It takes Masaru a few moments to hear her soft sobs.

Leon's eyes widen even more, and his slight smile fades. He moves his right arm out from under Sayaka and shakily puts his hand on the back of Sayaka's head. He also rubs Sayaka's back with his left hand, despite the obvious pain it takes to move. Her sobs become somewhat louder in response.

Masaru hears footsteps next to him and thus is only mildly startled when Heizo quietly states, "If they had feelings for each other prior to losing their memories, I'd say this is a good sign."

"And if they didn't?" Masaru asks.

"…Then I have no idea what to make of it."

0~*~0

Mukuro Ikusaba. That's what they said her name was. And she knew they were right. They also said that she used to be dead. And she knew they were right, somehow. There was no shock, no sudden realization, she just _knew_. She knew from the moment she woke up strapped to a hospital bed, even if she hadn't been able to put the feeling into words at the time.

And now, watching Leon and Sayaka, she gets another strange feeling: a buzzing in her brain, as though…as though she had seen something similar to this several times before. Oddly enough, she had felt the exact same buzzing when looking at everybody else, with the exception of…Masaru, was it?

Masaru, who's sitting on a trolley cart with a pillow and blanket on it, suddenly says, "Oh, Dr. Sasaki, I meant to ask you, what do these different colors mean?" He holds up the strange device on his left forearm.

Dr Sasaki, who's squatting next to Masaru, says, "Ah yes, I had that designed as a way to tell at a glance what the students' physical conditions were. Blue means they're fine; green means they're experiencing mild pain or discomfort; yellow means there's a health issue, but it's not life-threatening; orange means there's a health issue that is potentially life-threatening; red means their life is in serious danger; pink means they _will_ die without intervention; white means they're going to die and nothing can be done about it; and gray means they're dead."

Masaru…is completely silent. Mukuro can't see his face from where she's standing, but she imagines that his eyes are wide.

"What's going on?" a voice behind her says.

Mukuro turns to see who it is. It's…Natsuki.

Her eyes widen when she sees Leon and Sayaka. She looks around the room a bit before grabbing Sakura and Mukuro by the wrist (Mukuro can't help but flinch when Natsuki moves for her) and leading them out of the room.

The others are still out in the hall, and after Natsuki lets go of Sakura and Mukuro, she wrings her hands together and says, "Okay, um… It's getting late, so if everyone would please return to their rooms, uh… Goodnight."

0~*~0

The room is the same as when she left it, though the bizarre machine by her bedside is now gone. And, she realizes belatedly, there's a piece of paper on the table. She walks over to the table, picks up the piece of paper, flips it over…and freezes.

It's her. The buzzing in her brain lasts only for a few seconds before she realizes. She has freckles and short black hair in the photo, but it's definitely her. She absentmindedly puts her hand to her bald head. She starts to get dizzy and she quickly puts the photo back on the table face down.

The dizziness stops, but the fogginess in her head stays. She feels like…like she's trudging waist-deep through a thick swamp in the middle of the night…

_Wait,_ she thinks,_ what kind of analogy is…_

Something clicks inside her head and suddenly she realizes. She _has_ trudged waist-deep through a thick swamp in the middle of the night. She remembers it clearly. But she doesn't remember where she was, why she was there, or how she got there. In fact…

She can hardly remember anything.

Mukuro stumbles into the connecting bathroom and looks in the mirror over the sink. It's the first time she's really been able to get a good look at herself, and she realizes that her skin is much paler than in the photo. She's also missing her eyebrows and eyelashes.

And then, acting on a sudden hunch, she takes off her hospital gown.

She involuntarily gasps in shock. She wasn't wearing anything under the gown and so there's nothing hiding the _numerous_ scars all over her body.

The buzzing in her brain returns, and it quickly extends to the scars. The buzzing grows stronger and more painful until it feels like she's being stabbed where the scars are.

Mukuro tears herself away from the mirror and stumbles into the shower, dropping to her knees. She fumbles with the shower knob, and cold water gushes out of the shower head, washing over her naked, trembling body.

The cold water does her good. It numbs her skin and dulls the pain. Once it's dulled enough, her mind wanders to other things.

_These scars… Whatever caused them is what killed me, I'm sure of it. But I don't remember… Maybe I'm better off not knowing. And this buzzing sensation… Does it mean that I'm looking at something that reminds me of my past life? …How did I get here? How did I die? WHY did I die? And why do I feel like I've heard Natsuki's voice before?_

**Author's note: In case the above scene didn't make it clear, I ship Leosaya. Pretty hard. To be honest, I was uncomfortable with Leosaya at first because it was a murderer x victim ship. And then I read Haunted (which was actually where I was introduced to the ship). And now I ship it.**

**Also, I've never been inside a hospital recovery room before (which is probably a good thing), so I don't know if recovery rooms have showers attached to them. For the sake of the story, let's just assume that this hospital has recovery rooms with showers attached for patients who require an extended stay at the hospital.**


	6. Coming Back Around

**Sorry this took so long. Between school, getting stuck, trying to write another story, getting sick, and my interest in this series acting like the tides, I haven't been able to work on this as often as I would've liked.**

A week passes. Not much changes. The students capable of walking had been given a "new" set of clothes (a set of the clothes they wore at Hope's Peak Academy), but they all keep wearing their hospital gowns (though they do put on the underwear). Chihiro is still in a coma.

Masaru is standing outside Leon's door. Leon had gotten somewhat better over the week (as in, he didn't seem to be in as much pain anymore), though Masaru can't help but feel that that was mainly due to Sayaka.

Sayaka would visit Leon every day for long periods of time. They couldn't exactly do much together, but they definitely seemed to enjoy each other's company.

Masaru opens the door…and a surprise is waiting for him. Sayaka's not there. And instead of lying in his bed, Leon is sitting on the floor next to it, looking somewhat irked.

"Oh my God!" Masaru yells, rushing forward. He carefully picks up Leon and sets him back on the bed. Leon pulls the covers over his legs.

Masaru stands there and pants for a few seconds before saying, "Did you…? Did you try to walk?"

Leon nods.

Masaru drops his arms. "…Why?"

Leon just stares at him.

_Of course,_ Masaru thinks. Not a single one of them has said a thing over the past week. It's not that their vocal cords aren't working, and he can't think of anything else.

And then he realizes.

"Are you bored? Is that why you tried to walk?"

Leon nods.

Masaru sighs. "Look, I'll talk to Dr. Sasaki and we can work something out, but please don't try to walk again. Your bones are still healing."

Leon sighs and lies down on the bed, crossing his arms over his stomach.

Masaru leaves the room, feeling strangely exhausted.

Outside in the hall, he comes across an unexpected sight: Hifumi helping Celeste walk with crutches. Unlike Leon, Celeste is wearing casts on her legs. Hifumi is right next to her, looking ready to catch her if she falls. And she almost does.

When she sees Masaru, she stops to wave at him.

He waves back at her.

And he suddenly gets an idea.

He jogs to where he thinks Dr. Sasaki is, careful not to go too fast. He doesn't want to sprain his ankle again like he did the previous week.

When he gets to the place, he finds Dr. Sasaki looking over some medical charts…and, in the corner, Natsuki, Mukuro, and Taka working on a large jigsaw puzzle. A layer of black fuzz is starting to grow on Mukuro's head.

Masaru stares at them for a few moments before saying, "Uh, Dr. Sasaki, there's something I'd like to ask you."

Heizo turns towards him. "Yes?"

"Would it be possible to, um, give Leon a wheelchair?"

Masaru doesn't notice, but the three teens working on the puzzle have now all turned their attention to him.

Heizo gives him an odd look. "Why?"

"I checked on him and he was on the floor; apparently, he had tried walking."

"…Let me see Leon's display."

As they check the display, Masaru feels strongly tempted to ask Heizo why he had made it so that Masaru was the only one who could manipulate the displays. They finish before that temptation gets stronger than Masaru's desire to not know why Heizo would set it up like that.

"Well?" inquires Masaru.

Heizo thinks for a few moments before saying, "If you can get him into it, then sure."

Natsuki suddenly jumps up and yells, "We can help with that!"

Taka and Mukuro stand up too, nodding.

They retrieve a wheelchair from a storage room. It's in good condition, if a bit dusty.

When they get back to Leon's room, Sayaka's there, standing by his bedside. Her eyes widen when she sees the wheelchair, and Leon breaks out into a wide grin, looking unusually giddy.

It takes a bit of effort, but they're able to get Leon into the wheelchair. Leon's able to control the wheelchair with ease, and Sayaka, looking overjoyed, leans down and hugs him. Leon blushes, an adorably goofy smile on his face. Natsuki giggles, Taka looks pleased, and even Mukuro is smiling.

Natsuki then asks, "How's Chihiro?"

Masaru pulls up the display. "Still in a coma."

It's only after he pulls down the display that he notices the look of intense concern on Taka's face.

Natsuki turns and leaves the room, Masaru and Taka following.

She goes into Chihiro's room and sits in a chair by his bedside, taking his hand into hers.

He's hooked up to several machines, most of which Masaru doesn't know the names of. What he does know, though, is that some of them are meant to keep Chihiro alive as he sleeps. Others measure his heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, and other vitals.

At this point, Mukuro, Sayaka, and Leon enter the room. (Leon can control his wheelchair via a joystick on the right armrest.)

Natsuki glances up at Chihiro's vitals…and her grip on Chihiro's hand suddenly tightens. Her gaze quickly shifts between the boy and the monitors.

"Get my dad," she breathes, her voice almost imperceptible.

"What?" asks Masaru.

"Get my dad," she repeats, this time louder. "NOW."

Masaru immediately runs out of the room back to where Dr. Sasaki had been. Natsuki quickly gets out of the chair and stands by the doorway.

Mukuro looks at her oddly before glancing back at Chihiro. She freezes. His vitals are rising slightly. His fingers are twitching.

_He's waking up,_ she realizes.

Taka takes a few stumbling steps forward, as though he's come to the same realization.

Chihiro's eyes open, and he starts to look around. His gaze freezes on the red-eyed man slowly approaching him.

Taka opens his mouth as though to speak, but nothing comes out.

Chihiro tries to push himself into a sitting position, but his arms quickly give out.

Taka pauses by Chihiro's bedside, clenching his fists before reaching forward and quickly enveloping Chihiro in his arms. Chihiro initially tenses up, but the man's smell is comfortingly familiar, and he soon leans into the hug.

It's at that moment that Masaru comes back with Heizo.

Masaru's eyebrows go up when he sees what's happening.

_I did NOT expect Taka to react like that, _he thinks.

Heizo only says, "Chihiro? Let me see him."

Taka reluctantly lays Chihiro back down on his bed, and Heizo practically shoves him away as he leans over Chihiro, apparently oblivious to the boy's fear of this man he _knows_ he's never seen before.

Heizo turns back towards the others and says, "Would you all mind leaving for a bit?"

Masaru's eyebrows go up again.

_What is he going to do that requires all of us to leave?_

While the others reluctantly turn to leave, Taka crosses his arms and firmly plants his feet on the floor.

Masaru, the last to leave, can't help but smirk a bit.

Heizo, noticing Taka still standing next to him, says, "Taka, I need you to leave…"

The intense glare Taka is giving him lets him know that no amount of persuasion will get him to leave.

"…All right."

0~*~0

"So," Masaru says, "what now?"

"I'm gonna go tell everyone!" Natsuki excitedly yells before dashing down the hallway at a rate that Masaru didn't know was possible for her.

Masaru glances around at everyone, all of whom have the same expression of bewilderment on their faces, before saying, "…Okay then."

0~*~0

The first people she finds are Hifumi and Celeste, resting on a bench. Celeste is holding a pair of crutches.

Natsuki briefly pauses to yell, "Chihiro's awake!" before running off again.

The two look bewilderingly at each other before realizing who she's talking about. Hifumi stands up and looks expectantly at Celeste, but she only shakes her head; she's not ready to try walking again.

0~*~0

The next person she finds is Mondo sitting on his bed in his room, reading a thick book. He's in the middle of turning a page when she says, "Chihiro's awake!"

Mondo freezes, still holding the page. A few seconds later, he dashes out of bed, causing his blankets and the book to fall to the floor. He barely notices.

Natsuki's already run off by the time Mondo reaches the doorway.

0~*~0

Finding Sakura takes longer than Natsuki thought it would, if only because the gym, where she most likely is, is on the other side of the hospital.

As Natsuki runs down the long corridors, her sneakers slapping the tiled floor, she revels in the feeling of the wind on her face. Out of all the things the gods had given her, at least they had given her the ability to run fast.

By the time she reaches the gym, she's out of breath. Fortunately, it doesn't take much effort to find Sakura. She, still in her extra-large hospital gown, is practicing her punches on a punching bag.

Natsuki can't help but stop to watch. It's not every day one gets to watch the Ultimate Martial Artist in action. It's not long, though, before something starts to feel…off. Her punches are slow, her movements using more energy than they should.

_I know she was dead and refrigerated for a while,_ Natsuki thinks,_ and having the serum pumped through her blood vessels for ten days isn't going to completely restore her body's condition to how it was before she died… But still…_

It's at that moment that Sakura notices Natsuki in a mirror and ceases her practice. Natsuki, realizing that Sakura's noticed her, goes into the gym and dashes up to the muscular girl. Sakura gives Natsuki a polite smile and a nod of acknowledgement. She seems out of breath, oddly enough.

"Chihiro's awake," Natsuki says almost breathlessly.

Sakura's eyebrows briefly go up, but she soon looks away with a somewhat grim look on her face.

Natsuki frowns. "Something wrong?"

Sakura hesitates for a few seconds before walking over to a whiteboard, picking up a marker, and writing, _I've had something on my mind for the past few days._

Natsuki cocks her head to the side. "What's on your mind?"

_It feels like something's_ –she pauses- _missing._

"Something's missing? You mean like…" She almost immediately realizes what it is. "…Like someone should be here, but they're not?"

Sakura thinks for a few moments before writing, _Yes. Is there?_

Natsuki decides to be honest. "There are a few people missing… But we plan on reuniting you guys with them once you've regained more of your memories. And once you all start talking again," she adds.

Sakura gives a small smile, seemingly reassured.

"Now," Natsuki says, "shall we go see Chihiro?"

Without even waiting for a response, Natsuki grabs Sakura by the arm and drags her out of the gym.

As they walk down an empty hallway, Natsuki can't help but notice that Sakura's walking slower than normal, and even seems to be limping. There's no way she could've hurt herself training; something's definitely wrong.

Sakura suddenly stops. "Sakura? What's wrong?" Natsuki asks.

She's barely able to get out of the way in time as Sakura suddenly collapses forward.

"S-SAKURA!" she screams.

**Author's note: FUCKIN' FINALLY! I FINALLY finished this chapter! Shorter than normal, but at least I know how to start the next one! I'll be…trying to work on this story and one I'm writing for Big Hero 6, which I feel like I should watch again soon.**


	7. Continuing On

_Meanwhile…_

Masaru, Mukuro, Sayaka, and Leon stay in silence as they wait for Dr. Sasaki and Taka to come out.

Masaru rocks on his heels before turning to Mukuro and asking, "Uh, by the way Mukuro, as far as you know, have any of the others talked?"

Mukuro shakes her head.

"…I didn't think so."

Just then, Dr. Sasaki comes out…

"Okay, I've taken- Whoa!"

…And nearly gets bowled over by Mondo, who rushes past him into the room.

After a few seconds, Dr. Sasaki gives a few nervous chuckles, his eyes wide.

"I've…taken Chihiro…off…some of the machines…but I've left in the catheter and feeding tube for now."

"Well at least he's…awake…" Masaru trails off as his attention turns to the device on his arm.

"Yes, but the real question is why he was in a coma in the first place."

"There's another question I think we should be more concerned about."

"…What?"

"Why is—"

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

The device begins beeping loudly as Sakura's button suddenly turns red.

"What does the beeping mean?"

0~*~0

Natsuki drops to her knees as Sakura curls into herself, clutching her stomach. She tries to say something, anything, but the only thing that comes out of her mouth is strained whimpering.

Sakura lets out a pained grunt, gritting her teeth.

Natsuki has no idea what to do. This section of the hospital is almost completely unoccupied; even if she screamed as loudly as she can, there was almost no chance of anybody hearing her. She can't leave Sakura to go find help; she has no idea where the closest person is, and while she's gone, Sakura might…might…

…

Her heart and mind are racing, her hands are shaking, and her legs feel like they're made of granite. Her vision blurs as her eyes start watering.

_No, Sakura, please don't die. I already watched you die once on the broadcast; don't make me watch you die again._

It had been painful to watch Sakura drink the poison and die alone, and it had been even more painful to watch what had happened afterwards.

She knows that if any of them die again, her father can just bring them back to life as he did before…but she's afraid of what'll happen to the memories they haven't regained yet.

There's a gradually worsening pain in her chest, her face is getting hot, and tears are dripping from her chin. She had felt so helpless watching the teens die one by one, but kneeling in front of a possibly dying Sakura, watching as she grips her stomach and her face contorts in pain…somehow, it feels worse.

0~*~0

Masaru, panting heavily, runs down the hallway as fast as he can, followed by two nurses pushing a wheeled hospital bed (or whatever it's called).

_Why does Sakura have to be at the other end of the hospital!?,_ he thinks desperately.

Dr. Sasaki's already waiting in the O.R., prepping for surgery on Sakura's burst liver aneurism.

When they finally arrive at the hallway, the first thing Masaru sees is Sakura lying on the floor, clutching her abdomen, her face turned away from him…and Natsuki kneeling on the ground next to her, sobbing hysterically.

After quickly helping the nurses load Sakura onto the bed, he turns his attention to Natsuki. She's pulling at her hair and her face is red from crying.

"Natsuki! Natsuki, look at me!" He's tempted to grab her arms to get her attention, but he knows that's probably not going to help.

"Are you hurt!?"

She shakes her head fervently, still sobbing.

_I can't deal with this,_ he realizes. _But…I can think of one person who CAN…_

He then, with some awkwardness, picks her up and drapes her across his back. She wraps her arms around his neck, tight but not tight enough to choke him.

_You're lighter than I thought you would be,_ Masaru notes to himself.

It takes him a considerable while to find the person he's looking for (carrying a sobbing teenager on his back and being stopped by people concerned for said teenager didn't help), and when he does find her, she's at the back of the cafeteria during lunch rush.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," he exasperatedly mutters, barely able to hear Natsuki's sniveling over the chatter of the crowd. So he decides to try something he's only done once before.

"Mrs. Sasaki!"

No response.

"MRS. SASAKI!"

Several people standing close to him take notice, but not her.

"_**MRS. SASAKIIIIII!**_"

Finally, she hears him…as does almost everyone in the cafeteria.

Clearly irritated, Hiyoko begrudgingly trudges over to Masaru…until she realizes that he's carrying her daughter piggyback-style, at which point she speeds up to the point of practically climbing on top of people.

When she gets to Masaru, she, panting slightly, asks, "What happened?"

"Sakura collapsed after an aneurism in her liver burst and we found Natsuki next to her. As for why exactly she's crying…you'd have to ask her."

"Give her to me."

After Masaru awkwardly gets Natsuki off his back and into her mother's arms, Hiyoko quickly walks away and Masaru decides to sit at a table and give his legs a quick rest.

"Masaru?" Masaru glances in the direction of the voice. It's Juria, looking rather concerned. "What's going on?"

"Sakura's in emergency surgery for a burst liver aneurism."

"What!?"

"Yeah. This thing," he says, tapping the device on his arm, "came in real handy."

"I-I-Is she okay!?"

"…I think you mean 'Is she going to be okay?'. As for that question…we'll just have to see. But Dr. Sasaki is a very talented surgeon, and I have faith in him."

Juria is silent, but Masaru gets the feeling that there's something else she wants to say. After two minutes, she finally says something.

"I…feel like now's not the best time to bring it up…but…"

"Go ahead…"

"…How old is Dr. Sasaki?"

"…I don't know. I know that Natsuki was part of Class 77, but otherwise…"

"'Class 77'? Natsuki went to Hope's Peak?"

"Yeah. The Ultimate Artist. She more than deserves the title."

"How'd she get out?"

"She doesn't remember. And Dr. Sasaki refuses to answer the question."

"Doesn't remember?"

"Both she and her mother have amnesia…" A thought then occurs to Masaru, but he shoves it to the back of his mind; he'll have time to think about it later. "And Dr. Sasaki refuses to tell me why." Pause. "Why'd you ask me how old Dr. Sasaki is, anyway?"

"His daughter is a high school student, but he looks like he's in his 20s…"

"…"

"Oh, uh, by the way, there was something I meant to ask you."

"What?"

"Why'd you volunteer? I heard that it was because you felt like you needed to learn how to care about people that aren't your family…but that's not true, is it?"

"It is, at least partially. But it's only part of the reason. Another part is that, well…I wanted to be part of this story. To play a notable role in this story like no other ever before…is a great honor."

"Heh. You sound like Mother."

"I was quite fond of Mother. But I'm nothing compared to how she was."

"Yeah. I'm glad Mom's not like that, or I'd be like that too."

0~*~0

It takes Hiyoko ten minutes of physical reassurance and comforting words to get Natsuki to calm down enough to stop crying. By then, Natsuki's exhausted and thirsty. She lies down on her bed as Hiyoko goes to get some water. There's a mild buzzing in her head.

_That was…quite a strong reaction back there,_ she thinks. _Why did I…did I…did…I…_

And suddenly, she remembers.

0~*~0

She fell down. Her foot had slipped out from under her as she was running and she fell down. Now her arm and leg are hurting and bleeding, hurting too badly for her to get up. All she can do is cry and scream in pain, hoping that somebody will hear her. But it's nighttime, and everyone's in their soundproof dorms, and she's outside in the chilly air. But it's a thought that barely crosses her mind; right now, all she can focus on is the pain.

Suddenly, she's being picked up by strong, thick arms. She wipes away her tears and strains to see her rescuer. It's Sakura Ogami, the Ultimate Martial Artist.

Sakura briefly gives her a reassuring smile, unaware that the mere presence of someone who cares is enough to reassure Natsuki.

She wraps her arms around Sakura's neck as the latter carries her to the nurse's office.

"I can treat your arm wound," says the nurse, "but you'll have to get stitches for your leg."

One trip to the hospital, six stitches in her leg, and a gym waiver later, she's answering a call from her very concerned parents. When she finally hangs up, she can't help but think back to Sakura helping her.

_I'll have to thank her the next time I talk to her,_ she notes.

0~*~0

Natsuki, forcing herself out of her flashback, sits up and checks her legs. There's a faint, six-inch scar on the back of her left calf. She doesn't remember, but she has a feeling that she never got a chance to thank Sakura for helping her.

_Well, I'll have to fix that,_ she thinks. _…Assuming, of course, that Sakura even retained the memory of helping me._

She flops back onto her bed and sighs. It's at that moment that her mother comes back with a glass of water. She sets it down on the nightstand, but Natsuki doesn't take it.

Instead, she says, "Mom, have you ever shared a moment with someone that was meaningful to you, but the other person doesn't even remember it?"

Hiyoko, with one eyebrow raised, replies, "I don't think so but your father probably has several moments he could tell you about."

"Oh really?" she chuckles. "With who?"

Hiyoko glances off to the side. "…With me."

Natsuki, not expecting that response, gives her a blank stare. "You know… You never told me how you and Dad met…"

"I didn't?"

"No."

"…I thought I did."

"Well you didn't."

"I could've sworn I-"

"You. Didn't. I would remember if you did."

"…What makes you so sure?"

"I have a very good memory."

0~*~0

By the time Masaru gets back to the O.R., Dr. Sasaki has already finished operating. Mukuro, Leon, Sayaka, Hifumi, and Celeste are already waiting.

"You're late," observes Heizo.

"Sorry. Natsuki was with Sakura when she collapsed and she was panicking a little, so I took her to Hiyoko. After that, I talked to Juria for a while before I remembered about Sakura and came here."

"She's with Hiko? Good."

"…How's Sakura?"

"She should make a full recovery. There were a few other aneurysms in her liver that looked like they were ready to burst. Decided to go ahead and take care of those."

"Any idea what's causing it? Er, why it's happening, I mean?"

"I'm not completely sure, but we'll be looking into it."

"Hmm."

0~*~0

"Hey," Masaru asks, "why do you call your wife 'Hiko' sometimes?"

Heizo glances around the empty hallway. "When I first met her, I misheard her and thought she said 'Hiko'."

Masaru can't help but chuckle a bit. "How long did it take you to realize that wasn't her name?"

"She corrected me almost immediately. Still took me a while to get in the habit of calling her by her real name."

"Heh."

"Now tell me something about you."

Masaru blinks. "Uh… Why?"

"Seems only fair. And to be honest, I don't really know much about you or your family."

"Ah…" _What should I say, what should I say, what should I say?_ "Uh… Well… Uh… M-My family used to live in California in America. We moved here when I was 11."

Heizo's eyebrows perk up in interest. "Oh really?"

"Yeah. My Dad wanted to move somewhere else to get a fresh start, and since both my parents are descended from Japanese immigrants, he felt that Japan would be the best option. What about you?"

"I have lived here my whole life, and so has Hiyoko."

"You've never left the country?"

"I had to a number of times for work. And don't ask me where. I'm very tired of answering that question."

"Did you ever go anywhere for a vacation?"

Heizo looks stunned. "…No. There were plenty of opportunities, but…there was nowhere in particular…we were interested in going…" There's an oddly pained look in his eyes as he says the last part.

Masaru puts a hand on his hip. "'Kay…" _I think he's lying._

"Uh, e-excuse me, but I just remembered…something…that I…left…behind…somewhere… Uh…"

Without another word, Heizo rushes out of the hallway and out of sight.

…_I think he wanted to get away from me…but why?_

**Author's note: I was considering adding a little section at the end with Mondo, Chihiro, and Taka, but I felt this was a better way to end.**


	8. Problems

As Dr. Sasaki and Masaru walk off to presumably have a conversation in private, Sayaka notices that Leon's eyelids are drooping. After gesturing to the others that she and Leon are leaving (they had worked out a system over the past week), she wheels Leon back to his room. Once they get there, she helps him get into bed, where he almost immediately falls asleep. Sayaka quietly sighs and heads to her room.

_And now I have some time to myself,_ she thinks. _What should I do…?_

She had already finished "So Lingers the Ocean" (the author's name had sounded strangely familiar) yesterday and there aren't really any other books she finds interesting.

She partially undoes her hospital gown, enough to see the brace around her torso that prevents her from bending over so the stitches on her stomach don't rip open. Dr. Sasaki had promised her that the stitches would be removed the next week, but a part of her isn't sure.

She's eager for it to come off. It's incredibly inconvenient not being able to bend over, and it's nigh impossible to take a shower by herself. Not that she wants to take a shower. She doesn't know why, but she always gets an intense feeling of dread whenever she goes into a bathroom, especially if it has a shower inside.

She also feels inexplicably guilty whenever she's around Leon; it's why she cried when she realized how much pain Leon was in, even more so when he had tried to comfort her in spite of it. It's as though…as though she's responsible for his current state. It's part of the reason why she takes care of him. The other part… She really likes him. It's as inexplicable as her guilt. It's tempered by a strange sense of uneasiness she gets whenever she looks at him, but it's undeniable. She's tempted to ask Dr. Sasaki if he has any idea why she might be feeling this way, but she still can't talk, and she has a feeling he wouldn't tell her even if she could.

She sighs again and sits on her bed, swinging her legs over the edge. She's been so tired this past week, probably from taking care of Leon so much.

_I hope I don't get sick,_ she thinks.

0~*~0

"_AH-CHOO!_"

Taka's loud and sudden sneeze makes Mondo reflexively wrap his arms around Chihiro in a protective embrace. Taka notices their wide-eyes stares and he shoots them an apologetic look (he wants to give a real apology but he can't; that sneeze is that first snippet of his voice he's heard ever since he woke up) before quickly leaving the room.

_Is my voice anything like that?,_ he wonders. _Or is that just how I sneeze?_

It's frustrating not being able to talk or even vocalize. But at least he's not alone, and their hand gesture system has helped tremendously.

Taka suddenly feels dizzy, and braces himself against the wall with one hand and holds his other hand to the bandages on his head.

He's been having these dizzy spells every once in a while over the past week; he hasn't had a chance to bring it up to Masaru or Dr. Sasaki, but he plans to do so the moment he regains the ability to talk.

He waits there a few moments, willing the dizziness to go away. He starts to feel an odd sensation in his eyes as his vision starts to blur. His dizziness worsens, and he lowers himself to his knees to keep him from falling over.

_Am I going to faint?,_ he thinks.

His head starts throbbing and he starts to feel like he's floating.

The throbbing spreads from his head down his entire body…

0~*~0

Heizo wanders through the hall in misery, trying (and mostly failing) to keep himself from crying. He severely regrets asking Masaru about his past. Not because of what he had learned (it had made him think that his first real impression of the man had been wrong), but because it made him ask a question that reminded him of all the things he had wanted to do with Natsuki when she was a child…but couldn't. He hadn't been able to give her the childhood he wanted for her, the childhood she deserved, and it was because of that—

Crying.

He hears crying that definitely isn't his.

Wiping away his tears, Heizo immediately heads in the direction of the crying. He quickens his pace when he realizes it's coming from the teens' wing.

He rounds the corner…and sees Taka kneeling on the floor against the wall, sobbing violently and rubbing the bandages on his head hard.

Heizo immediately rushes to him. "Taka! Taka, what's wrong!?"

Taka just shakes his head. Heizo then notices blood seeping through the bandages on Taka's head and smearing onto his hand.

Heizo grabs both of Taka's wrists. "Taka, stop!"

Taka shakes his head again and tries to pull away, but Heizo keeps a form grip on his wrists.

"Taka, what is going on with you!?"

Taka makes a strange sound, as though trying to say something but unable to form the words. His eyes are unfocused and half-closed. His tears seem to have stopped but his face is still red.

Heizo decides to wait for Taka to calm down before speaking again.

He doesn't get the chance to, though.

Taka crawls to the middle of the hallway, or at least as much as he can with Heizo firmly gripping his wrists. Heizo is about to ask what he's doing when he notices Taka drooling and his eyes making rapid, sudden movements. Heizo immediately realizes what's happening and lets go of Taka's wrists.

Taka is having a seizure.

Heizo silently counts as Taka spasms on the floor as though he's possessed.

Thirty seconds later, Taka's spasms stop and his limbs flop to the floor. Heizo gently turns Taka onto his side as he gently says, "It's all right, Kiyotaka. You're okay now."

Taka reaches up with his right, bloodied hand and presses it against his bloodied bandages. He winces slightly and takes his hand away…and then notices the blood on his hand. His eyes widen and he looks up at Heizo with a bewildered and frightened look on his face.

Heizo, in the most reassuring tone he can muster, says, "It's all right. We're going to go change your bandages right now, okay?"

Taka, after a moment, nods. Heizo gently helps him up and puts Taka's left arm over his shoulder.

It's at that moment that Heizo notices Sayaka standing in her doorway, staring at them and looking terrified.

"He was having a seizure," Heizo says as they pass by her.

Sayaka watches them go down the hallway for a bit. Concerned and having not much else to do, she begins following them.

0~*~0

Masaru stares at the clouded sky as he stands on the roof of the hospital. In the past, this would be where airlifted patients would be dropped off. But now it's just a quiet place to be alone. It's also where the helicopter is kept, but since no one at the hospital knows how to pilot it, it's pretty much useless.

The only reason it's safe to be outside like this is because of the air purifier from Towa City: the clean air leaks out through the gaps in the doors and into the air around the hospital. It's a good thing too, because not having the option of freely going outside would've likely caused more than a few people to go stir-crazy, and Masaru probably would've been one of them. The sense of community in the hospital is comforting, but Masaru has moments where he just prefers to be by himself…even if it makes him think about things he'd rather not remember…

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

Masaru almost reflexively holds the device on his arm up to his face. Taka's button is flashing and has turned orange. He opens the display and right away one word catches his eye: "seizure."

Less than five seconds later, Masaru is sprinting through the door to the roof and down the stairs.

0~*~0

Unsurprisingly, Masaru runs into Dr. Sasaki in the hallway outside the room where Taka is (though he doesn't expect Sayaka to be with him).

"Masaru?" asks Heizo. "What is it?"

"Mind explaining to me why Taka just had a seizure?"

"I'm in the process of trying to figure that out. May I see the display?"

Masaru brings up Taka's display and flips through the appropriate menus. Masaru doesn't see anything that could explain a seizure, and judging by his expression, neither does Dr. Sasaki.

The two men briefly exchange glances before Heizo heads back inside the room.

Masaru looks at Sayaka, who begins running her fingers through her hair…and then a large clump of it comes off.

Their gazes switch between the hair and each other, with Sayaka having an increasingly freaked-out expression.

Masaru knocks on the closed door and says, "Dr. Sasaki?"

"Yes?" is the reply a few seconds later.

"A bunch of Sayaka's hair just came out."

"…I had a feeling that was going to happen."

0~*~0

Laughter. Someone's laughing.

It's very familiar and yet completely foreign.

She recognizes the voice but it doesn't sound like them.

It's…Natsuki?

But no, the laugh is too aggressive, too…evil.

Now she sees the girl, and she can immediately tell that it's not Natsuki. The style of dress, the hair color and length, are very different. But now that she's really looking at her, she can see the similarities. The eye color, skin color and tone, the shape of the face, the shape of the body, even the shape of the legs…

But wait…

Where is she?

0~*~0

Sakura awakes slowly, the image of the girl still in her mind.

She's in what looks like a recovery room. She tries to sit up, but she can't seem to move. Her muscles feel like dead weight.

_How did I become so weak?,_ she wonders.

"Looks like you're finally awake," a voice suddenly says.

She glances in its direction. She can just barely see Natsuki sitting in a chair.

"I was getting worried about you again."

Sakura doesn't react. She can't react.

"You were out for a lot longer than you should've been," Natsuki continues. "It's 10:35 p.m. now…"

Sakura's eyes go wide. It hadn't even been noon when she collapsed.

"So basically, you had a liver aneurysm… Do you know what an aneurysm is?"

Sakura feels like she does (though she can't recall the definition), but she can't nod, so instead she moves her eyes up and down.

"…I'll take that as a yes." Natsuki sighs. "That's… That's all I have to say for right now."

With that, she gets up and leaves.

As soon as she's left, Sakura gets a strong sense of déjà vu. But the feeling soon gives way to exhaustion.

She's tired.

So tired…

0~*~0

Sayaka leans over Leon as he gazes up at her with a tired but blissful smile. She gives him a Goodnight peck on the cheek (he passes out almost immediately afterwards) before leaving.

On her way back to her room, she passes by Chihiro's door and stops. She hasn't seen Chihiro since he woke up that morning.

_Poor Chihiro… This must be terrifying to him…_ Then she realizes… _Wait… How do I know that about him? …Maybe I shouldn't think too hard about it._

She starts walking again…and is suddenly overcome by a terrifying sensation.

She's trapped.

She's trapped and she needs to get out.

So she starts running as best she can with the brace on. She barely cares where she's going, just so long as it leads out.

She ends going through the door to the roof…and is quickly hit by a blast of cold air. It doesn't dissuade her from stepping out into the night.

She hides her hands in the sleeves of her gown, the feeling of being trapped quickly diminishing and giving way to curiosity. It's the first time she's been out on the roof. Oddly enough, there's a helicopter out on the roof.

Sayaka looks up at the black night sky. It's…strangely calming out here, in spite of the cold. It gives her a chance to clear her head.

There's so much that's been going on over the past week, so much that she doesn't understand. Where are they? Why were they brought here of all places? How did they die? How long have they been dead? And how did they get brought back to life?

But as much as she wants to know, she can't ask anybody, and she has a feeling nobody would tell her even if she could.

She stays out there in the cold night air until her toes are numb. She heads back inside, still shivering.

By the time she gets back to her room, she's exhausted.

She collapses into bed and immediately falls asleep.

**Author's note: Could someone please calculate how long each of the students in the first game is dead in terms of days? I may need that info at some point.**

**As of writing this, I am in the final class trial of the first game and will hopefully be finished by the end of the day!**

**Update: I found timelines for both games on Tumblr.**


	9. Falling

**This took longer than I would've liked…but my life has, as my mom put it, turned into a soap opera. Plus I had senior finals. And I've been playing through school mode. A lot.**

Another week passes. Masaru gives Sayaka a hat to cover her bald spots. Chihiro initially needs a walker to get around, but after a few days, he's walking on his own. Taka doesn't have another seizure, but he does get a cold.

Other than that…not much else changes.

Masaru watches as Celeste effortlessly swings her legs as she walks on her crutches. Leon happens to be next to him, and he's also watching her.

Masaru happens to glance at Leon as Celeste leaves and he can't help but smile a bit. _He's jealous of her, ain't he?_

Once she's out of earshot, he says, "Are you jealous, Leon?"

Leon looks up at him as though to say, "Jealous? Me?" It's much cuter than Masaru thought it would be.

"Don't worry," Masaru says. "We're starting your physical rehab so that you'll be able to walk again later today. Er, that is, you have your first therapy session…today… Does that make sense?"

Leon seems to think for a bit before nodding.

"Good." _The sooner he starts therapy, the sooner he gets back to normal._

The sound of someone sneezing suddenly brings him out of his thoughts. He quickly turns to see that it's, unsurprisingly, Taka, rubbing his nose.

"Shouldn't you be in your room?" Masaru notes. "Or are you just hungry?"

At the insistence of Dr. Sasaki, Taka had isolated himself in his room to keep his cold from spreading to the others. Taka had seemed surprisingly okay with it, though he did have a tendency to leave his room when he got hungry and Masaru had forgotten to bring him food.

Which was a bit more often than it should've been.

"Look," Masaru continues, "I'll get you some food later. Just please go back to your room."

Taka shakes his head.

Masaru shakes his head and sighs. "Okay, fine. I'll take you to the cafeteria."

After letting Taka pick a few things from the cafeteria, Masaru takes him back to his room.

Almost immediately afterwards, Masaru sees Dr. Sasaki enter the hallway.

"Ah, Masaru! I've been looking for you!" he exclaims.

"You have?" Masaru asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes! We're having a meeting about what we're going to be doing from here on out."

"And you want me to attend."

"Yep!"

Masaru sighs. "All right."

0~*~0

"As some of you already know," Heizo announces to the crowd in the conference room, "I have called this meeting to discuss what we're going to be doing from here on out. Now that the students' conditions have more or less stabilized, I think it's time we resume our previous plans. For those of you who don't know…we're taking back the city."

Masaru absentmindedly nods. They had been planning on taking back the city for months, but they were forced to put those plans on hold when the School Life of Mutual Killing happened.

_But should we really be thinkin' about that now? I mean, Leon ain't even walkin' again…_

"…Yes, I'm quite certain we can pull this off. As far as we can tell, there are no Monokuma in the city…"

Masaru zones out of what Heizo is saying, focusing on his own thoughts. He's not very interested in helping them reclaim the city; he prefers spending time with the former students.

"…Absolutely certain we have the resources…"

It keeps his mind focused… Keeps it from wandering to what he did before he came to the hospital…

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

Masaru nearly jumps out of his chair at the sound of the beeping. Heizo immediately stops talking and dashes over to Masaru (who happens to be in the front row).

Masaru holds up the device on his arm. Leon's button is red and flashing.

"What does it say!?" says a panicked Heizo.

"I'm bringing it up!" exclaims an equally panicked Masaru.

When he finally gets the display up, Masaru immediately look at the status.

"Four broken ribs…and a punctured lung!?" reads Masaru.

Heizo looks at the other meeting attendants and says, "Uh… Sorry but we-we're going to have to adjourn this meeting…"

Heizo then grabs Masaru by the arm and they rush out of the room.

0~*~0

They find Leon at the bottom of a staircase, lying on his side and clearly having trouble breathing. His toppled wheelchair is on the ground not too far from him. What they don't expect to see is Miko kneeling on the ground next to Leon, visibly panicked.

"Miko?" wonders Masaru. "What are you doing here?"

"I…I heard something crash…"

Leon coughs a bit. Masaru can see some fresh blood on his lips.

"…Don't worry. We'll take care of him," assures Masaru.

_Strange, though… Leon knows he can't use stairs… So how'd he end up fallin' down a flight?_

0~*~0

Leon is immediately taken for emergency surgery. Masaru and Miko wait outside in the hall.

"So Masaru…" Miko says, "You and Dr. Sasaki found Leon pretty quickly…"

"Yes, thanks to this," he replies, tapping the device on his arm.

Miko tilts her head.

"…Let me show you."

Masaru brings up the display and, through complex manipulation of the menus, turns the rectangular 2D hologram into a 3D sphere. In the very center is a white dot, and scattered throughout the sphere are dots of various colors (though most of them are blue).

Miko stares for a few moments before asking, "…What is that?"

"It's basically like a 3D radar; the white dot is me and the colored dots are the students."

"…Oh. How does it work?"

"…Something about the sensors in their bodies transmitting that information to the device…"

She gives him a blank stare.

"Well that's what Dr. Sasaki told me."

0~*~0

_How Natsuki was able to talk me into watching a horror movie with her at nine in the morning, I'll never know._

Mukuro glances uneasily around the room. They're not alone, of course; there are several other people in what was once a conference room, now a movie theater (due to having a projector that's hooked up to a computer that can play DVDs).

The movie is about a group of government agents who have to fight off an invasion of ridiculously human-like robots being controlled by unseen aliens. Mukuro thought it would be cheesy, but it's actually quite scary. It doesn't really faze her, though Natsuki clings to her more than once.

Right now, they're at the part where the agents are infiltrating an abandoned factory that they suspect are where the robots are being manufactured. They split into two groups of four and remind each other to stay within sight of someone at all times (Mukuro, for some reason, can't help but feel a twinge of relief).

The main character's group soon came across a large conveyor belt carrying people, bound but very much awake, into a machine that, as it was revealed not much later, turned out…the robots… The machine was…turning people…into robots…

At that point, she stops paying attention to the movie as she's pulled into her own mind.

0~*~0

"_No! No, let me go! Please! Don't do this!"_

_She's surrounded by hideous demons, all of them dragging her towards a huge machine. She tries to rip herself out of their hands, but their grips are surprisingly strong and their claws cut into her limbs when she moves; all she's able to do is slow them down a little._

_She looks at a silhouette watching them from close by. Any details are shrouded in darkness, but she somehow knows that the silhouette is the reason she's being dragged off._

"_Please! Don't do this!" she begs. The silhouette doesn't even move._

_She's not entirely sure what's going to happen, but she knows that by the end of it, she'll have absolutely no will of her own; her only thoughts will be of following the silhouette's orders._

_She's spent her whole life obeying others. But she has no desire to obey the silhouette. And now she's going to lose her free will because of it. And somehow, that thought absolutely terrifies her._

"_Please! Don't!" she begs._

"_PLEASE!"_

0~*~0

Natsuki's not sure why she asked Mukuro to watch a movie with her; she didn't even know what the movie was gonna be.

And of course, it turned out to be a horror movie. And while it was legitimately scary (they either used CGI or had people dress up as androids; either way, it was deeply unsettling), she didn't expect it to bother Mukuro too much.

So she's immensely concerned when she hears hyperventilating right next to her.

She glances over and sees Mukuro, trembling, eyes unfocused, skin white as a sheet, and looking utterly terrified.

She immediately grabs Mukuro's shoulders, being careful not to grab them too hard, and gently shakes her.

"Mukuro! Look at me!" she fiercely whispers.

Mukuro's eyes look in her direction. But instead of looking _at_ her, they look right _through_ her.

"You wanna leave?" Natsuki asks. She's fine with leaving, she's seen the movie before; and even if she hadn't, Mukuro is far more important.

Mukuro gives a slight indication of a nod, and Natsuki, still holding onto Mukuro's shoulders, leads her out of the room. The girls were in the very back row and the only light in the room is from the projector, so only a few people notice them leave.

Once in the (thankfully empty) hallway, Natsuki looks at Mukuro and asks, "You wanna go back to your room?"

Mukuro gives a more noticeable nod.

"…Okay. Let's go."

0~*~0

Masaru and Miko are still waiting in the hall when Dr. Sasaki comes out.

"Well?" Masaru inquires.

"It'll be a while before the anesthetics wear off," he replies, "but he should make a full recovery."

"'Kay."

Heizo looks around the hallway.

Before he can say anything, Masaru says, "I wanted to wait to tell the others until Leon was out of surgery."

"That… That's probably a good idea."

"Will he contract pneumonia?" interrupts Miko.

"What?"

"I heard that you can get pneumonia if your ribs are broken."

"…If you don't breathe deeply enough, then sure. But we'll do our best to make sure that doesn't happen," assures Heizo.

Miko, not entirely convinced, simply nods and hums, "Hmm."

"I'll, uh, go tell the others what happened," Masaru states as he stands up.

0~*~0

According to the device's radar, the closest person was Mukuro, in her room. So that's where he went first. When he opens her door, however…out of all the things he would've expected to see, a trembling Mukuro crying into Natsuki's shoulder as the latter hugs and strokes the former's back is NOT one of them.

He can't help but stare for a few moments before asking, "What the heck happened?"

Natsuki looks up at him. "…Apparently, the thought of people unwillingly being turned into androids absolutely terrifies her."

Masaru just stares incomprehensibly. "…It's just one thing after another, isn't it?" he moans.

"One thing after another?" Natsuki repeats.

"Uh…" _Should I just say it or…? Might as well. _"Leon…fell down a flight of stairs a-and broke three ribs and punctured his lung. He just got out of surgery."

Mukuro looks up from Natsuki's shoulder as the latter yells, "What!?"

"I came here to tell you that," Masaru explains.

"I see…" Natsuki says, hanging her head slightly. She thinks for a bit before looking at Mukuro and asking, "You wanna go see Leon?"

Mukuro nods after a bit, wiping her tears on the sleeve of her hospital gown.

Natsuki looks at Masaru. "You don't have to wait for us; go and tell everyone else."

"I…I was going to do that next…"

Taka is, as Masaru expected, in his room. He doesn't initially react to the news of what happened to Leon, but after a few moments he suddenly jerks upright in bed, his eyes wide.

Sayaka is, slightly surprisingly, in her room too, adjusting her hat. When Masaru tells her what happened to Leon, she rushes up to him, grabs his shirt, and mouths, "Where is he?"

After hurriedly telling her, he continues on. The next person he finds is Hifumi helping Chihiro reach something on a high shelf in a storage room by having the latter sit on the former's shoulders (Celeste is sitting on a box, watching them with a bemused smile on her face).

When he tells them what happened to Leon, Hifumi immediately runs out of the room, Chihiro still clinging to his shoulders with a terrified expression on his face. Celeste awkwardly gets up and leaves the room as fast as she can on her crutches.

Once they're gone, Masaru mumbles to himself, "I still can't get over how skinny Hifumi is now…"

The next person he finds is Mondo, who is, to Masaru's surprise, organizing the books in the "library." He seems oddly fidgety, though; he's going at a rather hurried pace and he keeps fumbling with the books.

"Mondo?" Masaru calls out.

Mondo freezes, but doesn't turn to face him.

"Leon…fell down a flight of stairs and broke three ribs and punctured his lung. He got out of surgery…pretty recently…"

Mondo hangs his head, but otherwise has no visible reaction.

After about ten seconds of stillness, Masaru suddenly feels very awkward and leaves without another word.

0~*~0

Masaru eventually finds Sakura training in the gym.

Instead of telling her about Leon, he, panting heavily, says, "I don't think…you should…be exerting…yourself…so soon after…your surgery…"

Sakura pauses for a bit and glances back at him before resuming.

"Actually…I'm pretty sure…Dr. Sasaki…explicitly said…for you…not to, uh…"

Sakura's looking back at him again, and the look she's giving him makes Masaru quietly back out the door.

**Author's note: …I thought I'd get farther than this. Oh well. At least things are starting to pick up a little…**


	10. Remorse

**I hope I don't lose interest in Masaru… Speaking of which, I didn't realize he had the same first name as Masaru Daimon until after I posted the first chapter. I hope it doesn't become confusing later on, though I might be able to work around it…**

_Shouting… A girl… He doesn't recognize the voice… Someone's following him…_

The first thing Leon is aware of is the dull aching in his chest. It doesn't hurt; it's just uncomfortable. He opens his eyes just enough to be able to tell that he's alone, and he promptly closes them again and falls back asleep.

_Everything's fuzzy… He knows who the girl is but he doesn't remember…_

The next time he opens his eyes, the room looks like it's sparkling. He quickly chalks it up to an exhaustion-induced hallucination and goes back to sleep.

This time, he doesn't dream.

He's awoken by the feeling of pressure on his face, and it's surprisingly difficult for him to open his eyes enough to actually see.

Blue eyes are the first thing he sees, and right away he knows who it is: it's Sayaka; beautiful, kind Sayaka.

He gives an involuntary smile as his eyes focus and his view of her clears.

She's smiling too, though her eyes seem unusually shiny. She's still wearing her cute beanie, and she's gently stroking his hair.

His eyelids are now open enough for him to see that they're not alone: all the other teens save Mondo and Sakura are there too, and Masaru and Dr. Sasaki are talking about something in the doorway.

He tries to ignore them, but it proves to be impossible when Dr. Sasaki suddenly yells, "WHAT!? I EXPLICITLY TOLD HER NOT TO TRAIN UNTIL SHE HAD RECOVERED…!"

His screaming becomes unintelligible as he runs out of the doorway and down the hall. Masaru briefly follows him, but soon comes back shrugging.

"What was that about?" Natsuki inquires.

"I told him that I found Sakura training in the gym," Masaru replies.

"…Didn't he tell her not to train until she was healthy again?"

Masaru shrugs. "I didn't get a chance to ask her about it."

"Didn't get a chance or she glared at you when you asked?"

"…She glared."

Natsuki nods. "I thought so. Where's Mondo?"

"He was organizing books in the library."

"By himself?"

"Yeah. He didn't react much when I told him."

A look of suspicion mixed with concern crosses Natsuki's face.

"That's…odd." She glances at Leon, who quickly looks away.

"How is it odd?" Masaru wonders.

"Well, last week, when I told him that Chihiro had woken up, he bolted out of the room." She notices Chihiro, no longer on Hifumi's shoulders, raising his hand. "What's up, Chihiro?"

He opens his mouth, but no sound comes out.

"…You wanna go find Mondo?"

He nods.

"Oh, okay, uh, go ahead."

Chihiro nods again and leaves the room.

Several moments of awkward silence pass before Masaru says, "So…is there anything else to talk about…?"

"…Not until my dad gets back, I think."

0~*~0

It feels empowering to Chihiro to be able to run by himself through the hallways. It's a strange thing to feel empowered by, but he really can't help it.

Not that he would ever say it out loud, of course; he feels enough like an outsider as it is. After all, he had woken up a week after everyone else and he still has difficulty understanding the hand gesture system everyone had set up. Nobody in the group treats him like an outsider, but he's not sure if that makes him feel better or worse.

On the one hand, he's glad that they're willing to accommodate him, but the fact that they have to do that at all is just…

Well, that's not important right now. What he needs to do now is find the library and, by extension, Mondo!

It takes him longer than he would've liked to find the library, but he thinks that it's an acceptable amount of time.

When he finally finds it, the first thing that he does when he goes in is try to shout out Mondo's name. The only sound that comes out is the sound of forceful exhaling.

_Oh yeah…,_ he thinks, _we still can't talk…_

He's not sure if it's because they don't remember how to vocalize or if they're incapable of vocalizing, but not being able to makes it extremely difficult for any of them to communicate with people outside of their group (not that he tries to do so very often).

In lieu of yelling, Chihiro begins searching through the aisles, one by one. When he's halfway through, he hears something and stops to listen.

He doesn't hear it again.

_Hmm. Must've just been me. Or maybe… Was that Mondo?_

Chihiro resumes searching the aisles at a faster pace. After looking through all of them…there's no sign of Mondo. So he decides to search through the back rooms, where tables have been set up to allow people to read in quiet.

It's not long before he comes across a room with a closed door. Which is odd; he hasn't been to the library very often, but he knows that the doors to the back rooms are almost always left open, even when someone's in there.

Chihiro cups his hands around his ear and presses it against the door. Sure enough, he hears something. It's not loud enough for him to determine what it is, but it's not someone talking, that's for sure.

Wanting to be polite, he knocks on the door. After waiting almost a full minute with no response, he knocks again, harder this time. There's still no response.

So he stands on the tips of his toes and peeks through the window in the door into the room. No matter how hard he looks, he can't see anybody.

Finally, he decides to just open the door and pushes down on the turn handle. It barely moves.

Chihiro frowns. _That's weird… These doors don't have locks… Is there a chair under the handle?_

Unfortunately, he can't quite peek over enough to be able to confirm it, so he does the next best thing he can think of.

He goes to the shelves, picks out a few books on programming, sits next to the closed door, sets a book in his lap, and begins reading.

_Mondo can't stay in there all day,_ he reasons. _He has to come out sooner or later. So I'll just wait for when he does._

0~*~0

Taka sits in the back of Leon's recovery room, holding his nose in an effort to keep himself from sneezing. Having a cold is incredibly annoying; he's sneezing and blowing his nose so much his sinuses hurt, the pressure in his head makes it feel like it's going to explode, he has no energy, and he just feels terrible in general. It also means that he can't spend time with the other students, at least not as much as he would like to. He knows it's necessary to keep the other teens from getting sick too, but he gets so lonely cooped up in his room.

Just then, Dr. Sasaki finally returns, looking thoroughly peeved.

"I cannot believe that girl…" he mumbles.

"What happened?" Natsuki inquires.

"She ran off as soon as I went into the room." He suddenly holds up a key. "But I locked the doors to the gym."

"Can't she just break down the doors?" Masaru points out.

"You underestimate the strength of those doors," he responds with a completely straight face.

"…Okay then."

"Where's Chihiro?"

"He went to find Mondo."

"…Why?"

"Cause he didn't come, I guess."

"…Where's Mondo?"

"In the library."

"…Why's he in the library?"

"He was organizing books."

"Organizing books?"

"Yeah… Is something wrong with that?"

"…How much of the broadcast did you watch?"

"…What does that have to do with Mondo organizing books?"

"From what I saw of him in the broadcast, he doesn't seem like the type to spontaneously decide to organize books unless someone like Taka was with him."

"So you're saying that it's out of character for him," Masaru deadpans.

"Yes."

"Well if _you're_ so concerned about it, why don't YOU go to the library and check on him!?"

Heizo stares at him, surprised by the sudden aggression in his voice. He slips out of the room without another word.

Masaru turns back to the students to see all of them staring at him with confused expressions.

"…You're wondering about the broadcast, aren't you?"

They all nod.

"Well…it'd be difficult to explain right now… You wouldn't really understand."

Strangely, his response seems to satisfy them.

He then notices Natsuki looking at him with a strange expression on her face.

"What?"

**Author's note: …Yeah, it's much shorter than usual, but I couldn't think of any way to continue the chapter beyond this point without it seeming awkward. That, and I'm tired right now (Didn't sleep well last night).**

**I think there was something else I wanted to mention but I forget what…**


	11. Paintings and speaking

**Please forgive me if I get anything medically wrong.**

**Why no reviews, guys? (For my more recent chapters, that is.)**

**Sorry for the slight delay. Not only is this chapter longer than usual, a three-day trip to visit my grandma because of her failing health (not counting two days driving to and from there) turned into a nearly week-long stay after she died early Thursday morning and the funeral was on Monday (the day before my birthday, no less). It was nice to see my mom's family again, though. And my cousins even got me some new headphones!**

Masaru realizes that something's wrong when Chihiro and Mondo don't show up for dinner. He decides to forego asking Dr. Sasaki about it and instead goes to Hiyoko.

"Say, Hiyoko, may I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Would you mind going to the library and checking to see if Mondo and Chihiro are still there?"

"Of course. In fact, I'll go right now," she says as she leaves the cafeteria.

_For some reason, _Masaru can't help but think, _I feel like she's more reliable than her husband._

Fifteen minutes later, they still haven't come back.

This time, Masaru decides to check things out himself.

After telling the others where he's going, he leaves for the library.

When he gets there, one of the first things he notices is the distinct sound of someone crying. It's not very loud (he can barely hear it), but it's definitely there.

He has to keep turning his head to pinpoint the source, but he eventually finds it.

Well, to be more accurate, what he finds is an open door leading to one of the back rooms with a broken window. There's also a small stack of books next to the door.

Masaru peeks inside and sees, in the corner of the room, Hiyoko and Mondo kneeling on the floor with the latter crying on the former's shoulder as she strokes his back and tries to reassure him. Chihiro's also there, kneeling a few feet away.

Masaru suddenly feels like he's being intrusive and quickly leaves.

0~*~0

"Masaru's been gone for a while," Natsuki points out to no one in particular.

Mukuro, who's sitting next to her eating a sandwich, nods in agreement.

Not five seconds later, Masaru comes back into the cafeteria.

"Well whaddaya know?"

Natsuki bounds up to Masaru…and almost immediately notices the extremely troubled look on his face.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

Masaru briefly stiffens. "Uh… Well… It's just… Mondo was sobbing onto Hiyoko's shoulder."

"…Oh."

"And I can't think of any reason why he would do that…unless…"

"Unless he had something to do with Leon's fall down the stairs, right?"

"…Yeah. How'd you…?"

"I just guessed."

"…"

"It's not like we can just ask him about it, though. I… Why are you looking at me like that?"

"…Sometimes I wonder if you're smarter than you seem to be."

"…It was kinda obvious from your description."

Suddenly her eyes widen and she grabs his chin and right shoulder, tilting the former up to fully expose his neck.

"Wh-What are you doing!?" Masaru demands.

"There's a li'l scar on your neck," she observes.

"Finally noticed, eh?"

"…How long has that been there?"

"…I got it long before I ever came here."

"It's right over your jugular…" she notes as she eyes him with a look of suspicion on her face.

"…A guy tried to kill me several years ago by stabbing me in the neck. He just barely missed my jugular."

"…You're 25, right?"

"…Yes."

"How long is 'several years'?"

Masaru stays silent.

"…You're not going to answer me, are you?"

Masaru looks away.

"…I'll take that as a 'no.'"

"…Can you please let go of me?"

She promptly does, giving him a smirk.

"What's that look for?"

"Oh, nothing important."

Masaru watches as she walks back to her seat.

_There is DEFINITELY something going on with her…_

0~*~0

_Later that night…_

Heizo is lying awake in bed on his side, his wife curling up to his back with her arm around his waist. It's quiet, and though it should be peaceful, he actually finds it a bit unnerving.

It doesn't last for much longer, though.

"DR. SASAKIIIIIII!" screams Masaru as he bursts into the room, nearly tearing the door off its hinges.

Heizo bolts upright, as does the now-awake Hiyoko, clinging tightly to him.

"We have a problem!" Masaru says again, brandishing the device on his arm.

"Hold on, hold on," Heizo complains as he gropes his nightstand for his glasses.

"It's…3 a.m." he notes when he finally gets them on. "What's…?"

Then he notices that Leon's button is a solid orange. "What the heck?"

"I just happened to be awake when it suddenly went off," Masaru explains.

"What does it say?"

"…I don't know, I didn't check it."

"Well, open it!"

"All right, all right!" he complains as he brings up the appropriate display. "How come I'm the only one who can do stuff with these displays?"

"So that no one can look at the displays without your permission."

Masaru decides not to comment on Heizo's answer of his semi-rhetorical question.

Suddenly, Heizo's eyes go wide. "What the-!?"

0~*~0

_A few hours later…_

Natsuki is awoken by something moving in her arms.

"Hmm?" she hums as she groggily opens her eyes.

Mukuro is sleeping on her side, lying on top of Natsuki's hand. She carefully inches her hand out from under the girl so as not to awaken her.

They had agreed the previous night for Natsuki to spend the night with Mukuro in her room in case the latter had nightmares about the movie. Which she ended up having. That ended with both girls falling asleep with Mukuro tightly wrapped in Natsuki's arms.

Right now, though, Natsuki just flexes her tingling hand, an unusual feeling of lightness in her chest.

_I think that's the first time I've been able to do that for anyone. It feels nice… I wonder if she ever comforted Junko. Prolly not._

She glances up at the clock on the wall.

_It's 7:45… I think we can sleep in a little longer…_

Still, her intuition tells her that she shouldn't go back to sleep, that something's wrong.

She sits up slightly to get a better look at the other girl. Mukuro's sleeping soundly, her breathing steady and even.

Her intuition still unsatiated, she slowly gets out of bed so as not to wake Mukuro and goes into the bathroom.

She looks at herself in the mirror and combs her hair with her fingers. It's not long before she pauses, though, and tilts her head downwards. Pinkish-blonde roots stand out against her light-purple hair.

_Huh. Looks like my hair's growing out again. …Maybe I'll let it grow back to its natural color again. It's been years since I've done that._

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" a voice suddenly yells. It's muffled, as though coming from another room.

Within moments, Natsuki is at the door leading to the hallway. She opens the door slightly, listening intently.

"What was with that outburst!?" yells Natsuki's father.

"Because you're not taking this seriously!" replies Masaru.

"I'm not taking what seriously?"

"Your duty as caretaker of these teens."

"I told you, I'm the leader of this establishment. I can't constantly keep an eye on them!"

"What about being the father of a teenage girl?"

"Huh?"

"You said that at the meeting."

"You can't possibly expect me to remember everything I said!"

"Well YOU'RE her father, so I expect you to remember at least that much. Besides, you were always willing to make time for your daughter, and she's been spending most of her time with Mukuro lately."

"…Your point?"

"You could spend the time you would've spent with Natsuki with the other kids instead."

"Ah… Well… You see… I wasn't so…busy back then…"

"Well the least you could do is have a decent bedside manner towards them! And you're really not that busy."

"What do you know about bedside manner?"

"That's not the point! What happened to the man who stroked the side of Leon's head while he was still dead? What happened to the man who-?"

"At no point did I say I was going to take on a fatherly role to the teens!"

"And I'm the brotherly type, not the fatherly type! A brother shouldn't have to take on the role of a father to his siblings. Your wife's already taken on the role of a mother to them. She, unlike you, actually went to the library when I told her about Mondo. And don't try to claim you did go; I asked Chihiro if he saw you and he shook his head. And Sakura… Did you ever consider asking her why she insists on training despite her weakening physical state?"

"…The way you're talking about this makes me feel like you're speaking from experience."

There's no response for several seconds.

"W-Well…" Masaru stammers, his harsh tone replaced with one of nervous indignation, "regardless… You…you should at least TRY to care about them…!"

"I do care about them," Heizo sternly replies.

"The way you acted towards Leon says otherwise!" Masaru retorts, his tone changing back to harsh. "How do you think Natsuki will feel when she finds out?"

Natsuki cringes. Invoking her like that with Heizo was usually a bad idea.

Oddly enough, though, Heizo doesn't respond.

At first.

"…How can I take care of sixteen kids when I can't even take care of one?" Heizo asks, his voice becoming quiet and somber.

"What do you mean?" Masaru inquires, his own voice becoming concerned.

"How can I give emotional support to sixteen kids when I couldn't do the same for my own daughter?" There's a noticeable amount of sadness in his voice.

Natsuki leans in closer, eager to listen and hopefully learn something about herself that she still can't remember. She's faintly aware of someone next to her, also listening in on the conversation.

"Your daughter seems fine," Masaru points out.

"The only reason she's like that right now is because of her amnesia. Of course, even before The Tragedy, she still seemed fine… But I only thought that because she seemed so happy. I couldn't comprehend that something was wrong…no matter how hard she tried to signal that that was the case."

"Huh?"

"She's shown you her art gallery, right?"

"Yes…"

"Those aren't all the paintings she's made that we have. We found some of her paintings at Hope's Peak, and I've been keeping them, along with the paintings she made at home, in the closet in my room."

"You have a closet in your room?"

"It'll make more sense if you look at those. In hindsight, it was obvious but…" He sighs. "And those weren't the only warning signs."

"What else was there?"

"Not long after she started middle school, she dyed her hair, cut it short, and put in colored contacts to make her irises look green. If she had started dressing differently, I might've noticed that something was wrong, but… I didn't even ask her why."

"That would explain some of the pictures I've seen…"

"When she first started, she also kept talking about her friends and she spent almost all her free time with them. After her change, though, she stopped talking about them and started spending all her time painting and drawing instead."

"Are you implying that Natsuki had depression?"

"She might've had something like it, I don't know. I'm not the psychology expert. I don't think she had depression as most people think of it. It's impossible to tell what was wrong now, though."

"Well-." Just then, the familiar beeping of the device starts up. "Oh geez, Sakura again."

"Well, I'll leave you to it-."

"Oh no, Dr. Sasaki. You're coming with me."

"Wha-!? Hey, let go of me! Masaru…!"

Heizo's protests gradually fade as they move down the hallway.

It's only when they've disappeared completely that Natsuki dares to open the door all the way. Sure enough, the hallway is empty.

Natsuki steps into the middle of the hallway, Mukuro following and closing the door behind her.

"So whaddaya think?" asks Natsuki as she stares down the hallway. "Should we check on Leon first or should we go find my paintings?"

Mukuro glances at Leon's door.

_I have a feeling that something's wrong with Leon… But if that's true, Natsuki might not want to leave him, and then we'd never see those paintings… To be honest, I'm curious about those too…_

Mukuro puts her hand on Natsuki's shoulder and motions down the hallway.

"You wanna go look for my paintings?"

She nods.

"All right, but my parents' room is in the other direction."

Mukuro can't hide her embarrassed blush.

0~*~0

It doesn't take them long to find the room; in fact, Natsuki heads straight there, as if she knows the way by heart.

And as it turns out, she does.

"You know, at first, it was just me, Mom, and Dad living here," she reveals along the way. "Back then, the plumbing and most of the lights didn't work. The ones that did were dim and kept flickering. The hospital was also really decrepit and dirty. It-It looked like it was straight out of a horror film. I loved to explore it back then. Of course, now everything's been cleaned up and restored, but as far as I know, the basement hasn't, um, gone through that. We should go down there and, uh, explore some time. Anyway, at first, we all shared the same room, even th-the same bed, though that was partially because there weren't any other usable beds in the hospital. I eventually got my own room, but Mom and Dad still sleep in that room. I'd love to tell you more about what it was like back then, but I think I'll wait until…until you can talk again."

And out of all of that, the only thing Mukuro can internally comment on is… _There's a basement?_

When they reach the room, Natsuki tries the door and it immediately opens.

"Huh. It's not locked," she observes.

The room is quite bare, Mukuro notes. Aside from the two-person bed, the only other piece of furniture is a rather wide nightstand with a lamp on it. There's also another, wooden door in the corner of the room.

Natsuki, not waiting for Mukuro, heads straight for the other door, saying, "Come on."

Mukuro briefly hurries as Natsuki opens the door.

Inside are several pieces of clothing hanging from racks…and on the floor are several canvases, a moderately sized stack of paper, and a few large metal boxes.

Natsuki heads for the murals while Mukuro heads for the papers.

Mukuro picks up the paper on top of the stack, which turns out to be a drawing of a park with a couple sitting on a bench and a tree on the edge of a lake. It's quite a detailed drawing, especially considering that it's drawn in colored pencil.

The next one is a colored pencil drawing of a school that doesn't look at all familiar to Mukuro. The next is of a teenage boy, also unfamiliar. The next is a sketch, drawn in ordinary pencil, of a person looking out a window at a cityscape. The next few are crude child's drawings of various shapes.

Mukuro suddenly hears Natsuki let out a small gasp. She looks up and sees Natsuki clutching a canvas with a shocked look on her face. Mukuro goes over to her and looks at the canvas.

It's a painting of a river running through a meadow with blossoming cherry trees lining its banks, with a blue sky over it all.

"My Dad had one of the walls of my room at our old apartment painted like this," Natsuki explains, her voice sounding distant and far-off. "Though I ended up having it covered with a tarp for several years because I felt like it was mocking me…"

Mukuro barely has time to form a coherent thought before Natsuki puts down the painting and picks up another. It's the one the sketch was based off of, showing a nondescript gray person in a dark gray room looking out a large window at a colorful and beautifully detailed cityscape. It comes off as rather depressing.

Mukuro looks back at Natsuki and is immediately concerned to see that she has a completely blank look on her face. Mukuro grabs Natsuki's shoulder and gently shakes her, but she doesn't respond.

_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea,_ Mukuro thinks as she takes the painting out of Natsuki's hands and puts it back on the floor. Natsuki has no reaction beyond letting her arms drop to her sides. Mukuro grabs her by the arm, hoists her up, and leads her out of the closet and out of the room.

By the time they're back in the hall, Natsuki's expression has gone back to neutral, though her eyes are wider than normal. She remains silent.

Mukuro practically drags Natsuki back to Leon's room, with neither uttering a single word on the way there.

When they get back, the hallway is still empty.

_It must be past breakfast time,_ Mukuro realizes. _I wonder if anybody's going to come and look for us…_

"You wanna check on Leon now?" Natsuki suddenly asks in a quiet, dull tone.

Mukuro can't help but give her a concerned look.

"Don't worry about me," Natsuki assures in almost the exact same tone as before, giving a small smile. "I'll be fine."

…_You're not doing a very good job of convincing me._

Still, Mukuro opens Leon's door…and almost immediately stops short when she sees Leon.

There's an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose and IVs in his arms. Leon looks at them through half-closed eyes, looking exhausted. She can tell even from the doorway that he's having difficulty breathing.

"Leon?" Natsuki says from behind her. "Did they diagnose you with pneumonia?"

Mukuro glances back at her. _How could she tell just by looking?_

Leon weakly nods.

Natsuki suddenly pushes past Mukuro and sits down at the chair next to Leon's bed.

"Mukuro… You go on ahead. I'll stay here and take care of Leon."

_Okay, she's really acting weird, _Mukuro thinks.

Sensing that Mukuro hasn't left, Natsuki says, "Don't worry about me. I've had pneumonia five times in my life, so I'm pretty sure I'm immune to it by now."

A gasp is one of the few sounds that Mukuro can make, and she makes a very loud one when she realizes exactly what Natsuki has just said. Even Leon's eyes go somewhat wider.

_Okay, I'm pretty sure that is NOT normal._

"I had a weak immune system as a child," Natsuki explains. "Just go already."

Feeling uneasy, Mukuro finally obeys, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

0~*~0

As Mukuro heads down the hallway towards the cafeteria, she quickly notices that the lights are flickering, especially the ones closest to her. After several more steps, she begins to get the feeling that someone's behind her. She stops and turns, but nobody's there. The feeling doesn't go away, though; in fact, it gets stronger.

Now starting to get unnerved, Mukuro resumes walking at a faster pace. The feeling still hasn't left, and now a feeling of dread is starting to creep up in her mind. She wishes there was someone else in the hallway.

She suddenly feels a hand run through her short, fuzzy hair, briefly stroking her forehead. Her whole body goes cold.

"_You look much better without those freckles,"_ a thin, whispery voice murmurs into her ear, too quiet for her to identify the voice.

Mukuro decides not to take any chances and runs like hell all the way to the cafeteria.

0~*~0

When she gets to the cafeteria, panting slightly, the only person there is the serving lady.

She looks up at Mukuro, surprised. "I was wondering when you'd come."

Mukuro, still panting, just shrugs.

"Where's Natsuki?"

Mukuro just stares. _…Did you forget that I'm incapable of talking?_

The serving lady seems to realize it a few moments later. "…Oh yeah… W-Well, the others have already had breakfast. I don't know where they are now, though."

Mukuro just shrugs, and grabs some food, the sense of uneasiness still lingering. After finishing her breakfast rather quickly, she immediately goes off to find the others.

She eventually finds Mondo helping Chihiro get a book from a high shelf in the library and spends the rest of the morning with them. After lunch, she poses for Hifumi's drawings for two hours, and then spends the rest of the day doing various things with just about everyone else. She doesn't encounter the flickering lights or whispering voice again. Nor does she see Natsuki.

The last person she's with is Sayaka. The whole time she's with her, there's a palpable amount of worry in her expression. Mukuro doesn't have to try to ask why.

When they end up in the hallway where their rooms are, Mukuro looks at the wall clock. It's 9:50.

She then notices that Sayaka is staring at Leon's door. Feeling a strange twinge of guilt, she takes Sayaka's good hand and leads her inside.

Leon is asleep, still wearing an oxygen mask and still with IVs in his arms. Natsuki is still sitting on the chair by his bedside, her hand on his forehead.

"Hi Sayaka," she says in a dull, far-off tone, not turning around.

Mukuro lets go of Sayaka's hand and leaves.

Sayaka covers her mouth as she lets out a small gasp, her eyes watering from shock.

_What happened!? Why did no one tell me about this!?_

Hearing the gasp, Natsuki says, "It's all right, Sayaka. I can handle this. You can leave."

_No, _Sayaka thinks,_ I am not leaving him when he's like this! Why don't you get that?_

She then feels an odd sensation in her throat, as though something inside it is bobbing up and down.

She swallows awkwardly and suddenly gets an idea.

"Ah… Ah…"

Natsuki immediately turns around, startled by the sudden sound.

Sayaka is standing a foot or two behind her, looking just as surprised as she is, with her mouth open and her hands clasped together.

"Ah… I…"

Natsuki stares at her intently, silently egging her on. _Come on… You can do it…_

"I-I…want t…to stay… With him," she asserts, her voice sounding a bit raspy.

Natsuki has no idea how to respond to this sudden development. So she decides to respond to it as though it was normal.

"I… Uh… He…"

Regardless, she's still at a total loss for words.

"S-Sayaka…" comes a quiet, slightly muffled voice from behind her.

Natsuki turns around again and sees Leon, now awake, looking at them through barely-open eyes. She can swear that he's smiling through the oxygen mask.

"Wh-What happened to him?" asks Sayaka, concern in her voice.

"He probably has pneumonia."

"P-Probably?"

"They had stuff like this hooked up to me when I was hospitalized for pneumonia. That's a story for later, though."

Sayaka isn't sure what to say. She ends up not having to say anything.

"Natsuki?" a male voice says from behind Sayaka.

Once again, everybody turns to look at the doorway. This time, it's Heizo.

"Daddy?"

"D-Doctor Sasaki?"

Heizo's already wide eyes go even wider.

"You can talk now?" he asks Sayaka.

"Y-Yeah…" she replies a bit apprehensively.

"How?"

"I-I don't know… I just…felt something weird in my throat and then…and then I just tried talking."

"You just tried… Is there anybody else?"

"Leon. But it was just Sayaka's name."

"I-I just started being able to a few minutes ag-"

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" suddenly comes from the hallway.

Heizo immediately whirls around and is nearly bowled over by Masaru, who grabs his shoulders and screams, "DR. SASAKI! THE HOSPITAL IS HAUNTED!"

Heizo just gives him a wide-eyed stare. "…What…?"

Masaru takes a few deep breaths before explaining, "Okay, I heard somebody's voice whispering into my ear even though there was nobody else in the hallway!"

Heizo waits for several seconds as Masaru pants. "…That's it?"

"…Yeah…"

"…That's not much basis to believe in a haunting, is it?"

Before Masaru can answer, the hallway lights all go out, followed by all the bedroom doors opening almost simultaneously. Just about everyone looks startled, some more so than others.

"Why are the lights-?" Hifumi begins. "Huh? I'm talking!?"

"I-I guess everyone can now…" responds Sayaka.

"Figures…" Taka rasps.

"Really!?" booms Mondo before looking surprised at himself. "My voice sounds different than I thought it would be…"

"Sounds exactly the same to me…" notes Masaru.

"But why now?" asks Celeste, speaking in a more normal accent instead of her fake French one.

"I don't know… I don't think anybody knows."

There's a pause.

"Who… Who just said that?" Chihiro asks apprehensively.

"It's the ghost!" shrieks Masaru.

"…I didn't think you were the type to freak out over ghosts…" Heizo notes.

"I'm not freaking out because there's a ghost, I'm freaking out because it might be HER!"

"…Oh."

"Her?" inquires Sakura.

"I'll…tell you some other time. It's getting late; you all should go back to bed."

"Before we do that," the strange voice says again, "there's something I want to know."

This time, the owner of the voice steps forward. It's Mukuro.

"So that's what your voice really sounds like…" states Masaru.

She stares at him for a few moments before saying, "How'd we all die?"

**Author's note: To whomever it may concern: I finished the main story of SDR2 after 48 hours, 21 minutes, and 1 second, and I've gotten all the boys' endings for Dangan Island.**

**For those of you who haven't heard, the localization of Danganronpa Another Episode is coming out on September 1****st****. So, depending on how quickly I can get through this story, I may have to pause this story until I can play through the game or watch a full walkthrough. Though I have a feeling the game will come out before I can finish this act.**

**I feel like I need a break from storywriting… I just don't want to give up on Immortals…**


	12. Secrets

**I have all the trophies for Danganronpa and Super Danganronpa 2. And now I have Danganronpa: Another Episode (got it on the day of its release, no less).**

**And now I've started college, so I'm not gonna have as much time or energy to work on this as I did during the summer.**

Dr. Sasaki is completely and utterly silent. After several moments, he finally says, "I feel unsure about telling you that right now."

"Why?" Mukuro asks.

"Well, for one thing, I don't want to risk any of you developing false memories. Secondly…it's not something to be discussed this late at night."

"You won't even give us a hint?" inquires Hifumi.

"I think some of you can guess from your injuries."

"But…I don't have any injuries," Mondo points out. "So how did I die?"

"…I'm not sure how to describe it."

"Why not?"

"…It's just hard to think of a way to describe it."

"It was a very strange and unusual death," Natsuki suddenly adds, her voice now back to normal.

When she realizes that everyone's staring at her, she retorts, "What? It's okay for me to be vague, isn't it?"

"…I…suppose it is," Heizo cedes.

"I'm still wondering why the lights went out," Masaru interrupts.

"We'll go look at that right now," Heizo replies, grabbing the collar of Masaru's shirt and leading him away.

The students watch them leave. Once they're gone, they begin to talk among themselves, eager to hear each other's voices.

Only one doesn't partake in this: Mukuro Ikusaba. Instead, she stares at Natsuki for several moments before walking up to her and asking, "What was going on back there?"

"What do you mean?"

"This morning, when we were looking at the paintings…"

Natsuki takes a deep breath and, in a quiet voice, says, "I remembered…how lonely I was back then… That's all…"

There's a moment of silence.

"Would you spend the night with me in my room? Please?"

"Of course," Mukuro answers.

"…Thank you."

0~*~0

"Hey Natsuki," Mukuro says as she plops down on Natsuki's bed, "can I tell you something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"It's about the way I acted during…during the movie yesterday."

"…Okay."

"When I saw that scene, I…saw something."

She then tells Natsuki of the vision she had, the one of demons dragging her away. It's short, but when she's done, she's trembling.

Natsuki's widened eyes just stare at her. "…If what you saw means what I think it means…then…" She pauses as she looks for the words. "Reviving you guys was better for you than we ever imagined."

"What do you mean?"

"…I'm not completely sure. It's just a hunch I have." She sighs. "I-I know this is unrelated but…I'm really glad to hear your voices again."

"Uh…" Mukuro isn't fully sure of how to respond. "Why?"

"Watching you all die one by one… Of course I'd be glad to hear your voices again."

"'Watching us all die one by one'? Natsuki…what exactly happened?"

…_Did I say too much? Not telling her might be a little unfair…_ "…You were all forced to kill each other while trapped in a school. The whole thing was broadcast over the entire country. Masaru told you that, remember?"

"…Wait, what?"

…_That was probably too much._

"We were…what?"

"…You were all forced to kill each other while trapped in a school. The only way out was to kill someone and get away with it."

There's a look of terror in Mukuro's eyes. "Who did I kill?"

"Wha…?"

"Who did I kill?" There's an unmistakable amount of dread in her voice.

_Why does she think she killed somebody?_ "…Nobody. You were murdered."

She looks…confused. "Who killed me?"

"The mastermind."

"Is the mastermind one of us?"

"No, no. They were crushed to death, so it's probably impossible to revive them. Plus, they're the sort of person that's better off dead, at least in my opinion."

"Why are they better off dead?"

"Um… I'm not quite sure how to explain that."

"Why?"

"…I'm just not sure how to explain it. Come on; we should get to sleep."

Mukuro isn't satisfied, but the almost painful buzzing in her head keeps her from asking any more questions.

Her dreams that night are of two-colored bears, fire, demons, and other things that she forgets come morning.

0~*~0

The moment Natsuki wakes up, she gets a very strong feeling that something is very wrong. She makes Mukuro get up (she was already awake) and wordlessly takes her out of the room.

The girls quickly see that Leon's door is open. Natsuki lets go of Mukuro and peeks inside. Mukuro tries to follow her, but after a few seconds, Natsuki suddenly bolts away from the door, grabs Mukuro again, and drags her away.

"Uh… Natsuki?" the girl questions, sounding worried. "What's going on?"

Natsuki freezes for a bit before answering, "Leon's gotten worse. He looked like he was delirious, and his button on Masaru's arm device was pink."

"That means he'll die without medical attention, right?"

"Yes, and I'm not going to just stand by and watch Leon suffer when something can be done about it."

Mukuro doesn't ask for specifics, but she has a feeling that it has to do with the mysterious "serum" she's heard mentioned a few times. She doesn't know much about it, other than that it was involved in their revival, but now that she can talk, she plans to look into it as soon as possible; she wants to try just asking about it before looking for the information herself.

The girls continue on until they reach Heizo's bedroom. Natsuki easily throws open the door. "Dad, we-."

And is immediately greeted by the sight of Heizo sitting on the bed, his face buried in his hands.

Both girls freeze, feeling incredibly awkward. Heizo's glasses are on the nightstand and he's hunched over, shaking slightly. He looks up a bit, enough for him to see the girls but not enough for them to see his face.

_Is he…crying?,_ Mukuro wonders as Natsuki stares with her arm raised.

"Daddy?" she says blankly, her tone emotionless.

"…Hi Suki," Heizo weakly replies, choking up.

…_If he isn't crying now, he definitely was before._

"Daddy?" Natsuki repeats in the exact same tone. "What's wrong?"

"…Oh, it's just…stressful, is all."

…_What exactly is "stressful"?_

Natsuki slowly and almost robotically walks up to her father.

"I-Is something…wrong?"

"Leon's condition has gotten worse… Much worse," she says in a low, almost threatening tone.

"How much worse?" Heizo cautiously replies, his voice clearing up a bit.

"His button on Masaru's display is pink," Mukuro answers.

"Oh… And you want me to use the serum on him," Heizo guesses, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

"Yes," Natsuki affirms.

"I've used up almost all of the serum I had left on Sakura, and I've been too busy to make more. I could make a rough batch. It wouldn't be as effective, but…"

"It'll do."

"…All right. Give me half an hour."

Natsuki nods, then turns around and walks out, grabbing Mukuro by the wrist and taking her with.

Halfway down the hallway, Mukuro pulls out of her grip and says, "You've been acting really weird lately."

Natsuki stops, but doesn't turn around. "…I told you, I remembered how lonely I was back then."

"Something tells me it's more than that."

Natsuki turns her head just enough to see Mukuro out of the corner of her eye. "…Do I ever seem familiar to you?"

Mukuro puts her hands on her hips. "Don't avoid the question."

Natsuki notices that Mukuro's pose is identical to Junko's. "…Look, if I knew what it was, I'd love to tell you. But all I have are hunches as to what it is. As for my question earlier…"

"…I…do feel like I've heard your voice before…"

The buzzing sensation returns, spreading from Mukuro's head down to her scars, though it doesn't become painful. A familiar feeling of dread begins to creep up in her mind.

"Natsuki… Is there someone behind me?"

"I don't think so…"

Just then, the lights start flickering.

"…Let's get out of here," Mukuro says quickly before grabbing Natsuki by the arm and dashing out of the hallway. She doesn't stop until they reach a hallway where the lights aren't flickering.

Natsuki, now looking baffled, states, "Okay, now it's my turn to point out that you're acting weirdly."

Mukuro, not even panting, replies, "Yesterday, after you stayed behind with Leon, the lights started flickering and a voice said, 'You look much better without those freckles.'"

Natsuki's face goes very, very pale.

"…What?"

"If what you just said means what I think it means…"

"There's a ghost haunting the hospital!?" a voice suddenly shrieks.

"UWAH!"

"Mondo," Mukuro yells, "don't scare us like that!"

"S-Sorry… But is it true? Is there really a gh-gh…ghost?"

"…I never would've thought you of all people would've been scared of ghosts," Natsuki states. "Heck, I never thought you would even believe in ghosts."

"Wh-Why?" demands Mondo.

"…You just didn't seem like that."

"What are you basing that on!?"

_Why is he getting angry?_ "Your behavior before your death."

"What does that have to do with anything!?" This time, he sounds more confused than angry.

"…Huh?"

"I don't even remember anything from my old life!"

"I think most of us don't…" Mukuro points out. "At least not much…"

"Just because you can't remember your old life doesn't mean your personality should be much different from before," adds Natsuki.

"Well, la de da, I don't care!" yells Mondo, sounding exasperated. "Is there a ghost or not!?"

"…I don't know. But if there is a ghost…I hope it's not who I think it is," answers Natsuki.

"…Who do you think it is?"

"…The one responsible for your deaths."

"Who?"

"…Someone who isn't here."

Mondo groans, rolls his eyes, throws up his hands, and walks away.

"…That was odd," Mukuro notes.

Natsuki just stares wide-eyed after him. "…He didn't swear."

"Huh?"

"He didn't swear once in that entire conversation."

"…So?"

"During the broadcast, he swore a lot. Especially when he was angry."

"…You might be overthinking it."

"…I have my doubts about that, but I hope you're right…"

"…So how'd it go?" another voice cautiously asks. This time, it's Masaru.

"He said to give him thirty minutes," replies Natsuki.

Masaru glances at the clock. "All right."

Mukuro feels like she had something to say, but can't remember what.

0~*~0

Making the serum is a tedious process, especially adding components to concentrate it and enhance its healing properties. Though he won't be doing that today; he just has to do some filtering.

"_Don't overdo it,"_ a small voice tells him.

"I won't," he mumbles before taking a drink out of a glass of water.

"_If I knew you wouldn't, I wouldn't have said anything."_

"Please be quiet." _Every time I hear you, I can feel my sanity slip away._

Surprisingly, there's no response. He takes it as a cue to start the process of filtering out the serum. It takes him twenty minutes to filter out enough. Or at least, he _hopes_ it's enough; he's so used to using the concentrated form of the serum, it's hard to tell how effective the normal form will be.

He expects "it" to make a comment, but there's only silence.

Putting the serum in an IV bag, Heizo takes another drink of water before leaving the room. He speed-walks to Leon's room, encountering only a few people on the way there. When he gets to Leon's room, the only people there are Masaru, Sayaka, and Leon.

"He fell asleep three minutes ago," informs Masaru. "Up until then, he was completely delirious."

"It's surprising how quickly his condition deteriorated," Heizo notes as he attaches the serum bag to Leon's IV rack and puts the needle in his arm. He expects Masaru to say something else, but he doesn't.

Instead, Sayaka says, "Is he going to be okay?"

"He should be," Heizo replies. "I don't know how long it'll take the serum to start working, though."

Sayaka combs her fingers through her hair…and another big clump of hair comes out.

She stares at it for several moments, looking increasingly upset before finally whining, "Why does my hair keep coming off!?"

Heizo replies, "Well, you were dead for a long time, and that probably affected your hair follicles. Your hair should grow back normally, though."

"Will I go bald!?"

"…That, I don't know." Heizo then turns to Masaru and asks, "Do you know where Natsuki is?"

"I think she's in her room."

"Thanks."

After he leaves, Masaru looks at Sayaka and states, "You know, I keep getting the feeling that he's hiding something."

"I could say the same about you," Sayaka responds.

Masaru's too nervous to ask what she means.

**Author's note: Yep. I knew it. The game released before I finished the first act. I just hope I can finish this story before the next game is released.**

**This took longer than I thought it would (and I wanted to finish this before I entered college). I think I'm going to put Immortals on the backburner for a while; I'll still work on it, it just won't be a priority.**

**I have been working on this story for nearly a year. I am amazed at how long I've managed to maintain interest.**

**As for the next few chapters, the next chapter is going to be snippets of various lengths as I skip around time. Don't know how long that'll take. After that will hopefully be the final chapter of act one. Be sure to check out my one-shot.**

…**Maybe I should get a beta reader for this story.**

**I made a poll about chapter length. Please answer it.**


	13. Skipping Through Time

**Shortly after starting this chapter, I realized I had completely forgotten about Sakura's head wounds… I went back and changed that, along with a few other things.**

**Oh, and I put up a poll on chapter length. Go check it out.**

**As I said before, this is just going to be a bunch of snippets as I skip around time.**

The serum starts working mere hours later. By then, however, it's past 11:00 p.m., and nobody else is in Leon's room…except for Mondo.

He's standing next to Leon's bed, staring at him as he rests.

Mondo squeezes his eyes shut as he makes a pained expression. "Leon… I'm so sorry…"

"Hey… It was an accident…"

"Gah! Y-You're awake!?" he fiercely whispers.

"Yeah…"

"H-How long have you been awake!?"

"A while, I think."

Mondo sighs after a moment.

There's a long silence.

"Why'd you come?" Leon asks.

"…I wanted to apologize to you without anyone overhearing me…"

"Including me?"

"…"

"…It doesn't matter. I'll be okay."

"…I'm surprised you're able to talk like this," Mondo notes.

Leon briefly considers telling him about how he's struggling just to stay awake, but decides against it. "I'm surprised you're still here."

"I'm not gonna go back to my room if it means risking seeing a ghost."

"You're afraid of ghosts?"

0~*~0

"Is Mukuro Ikusaba my real name?"

"Huh?"

The question comes up suddenly during lunch, and Natsuki isn't quite sure what to say at first.

"Um… Why are you asking me?"

Mukuro shrugs. "It just doesn't seem like a name a normal person would have."

_Well you're definitely not normal._ "…Personally, I don't think it's your real name. But it's the only name of yours we know of."

"Speaking of names," says a voice from across the table, "what's my real name?"

"Huh?"

It's Celeste, still with crutches. And, somewhat oddly, wearing her bell earrings and her metal claw-like thing on her right index finger.

"Some people told me that it's Celestia Ludenberg. Others said it's Taeko Yasuhiro. Who's right?"

"Taeko Yasuhiro is your birth name," Natsuki explains. "By the time you died, you were going by Celestia Ludenberg."

"Hmm," Celeste hums, nodding. "I can see why. Celestia Ludenberg sounds so…regal." Her eyes look like they're sparkling, something Natsuki has never seen before. It makes her look…cute. "Though…why specifically 'Celestia Ludenberg?'"

Natsuki shrugs. "Nobody had the chance to ask."

"Which do you want us to call you?" Mukuro asks Celeste.

She looks up for a bit. "Mmm… Maybe 'Taeko' for now."

…_Why am I not as surprised as I feel like I should be?_, is the only thing that Natsuki can think.

"By the way Taeko…"

"Yeah?"

"What's with the earrings and claw?"

"Well, they're mine for one thing. And I feel like they help me stand out."

_Some things never change, I guess…_

0~*~0

"What time is it?" asks Sayaka as she and Leon (who has recovered from his pneumonia and is now back in his wheelchair) paint a prop for the upcoming stage play.

"It's…9:30," says Taeko after glancing at a clock.

Kiyoshi, surprised, says, "It's that late already?"

"Who knew painting could take so long?" Mondo deadpans.

"Hey, there are worse ways to spend the day," chides Natsuki.

"Like shoveling animal dung," Masaru offers.

Mukuro asks, "You've done that before?"

"…I was just giving an example."

"Oh."

"The only animals we have here are chickens," Mondo retorts.

"Quit complaining," Hifumi groans. "We're done for the day anyway."

"I'm tired!" Mondo yells. "And I get crabby when I'm tired!"

Taeko looks annoyed. "Ya don't have to yell about it…"

Chihiro, who happens to be standing closest to Mondo, meekly says, "M-Mondo… Please try to calm down…"

Mondo suddenly raises the paintbrush he's holding and flings it down, as though he intends to hit Chihiro with it. "Now look here-"

"_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!**_"

Chihiro bolts from the room, running faster than any of them thought he was capable of, leaving Mondo to stand there with a dumbfounded expression, pointing the paintbrush at where Chihiro's face had been.

Mukuro is the first to react, running after Chihiro. Natsuki soon follows her.

Out in the hallway, Mukuro quickly catches up with Chihiro, grabbing his shoulder.

"N-NO! STOP!" he screams, his voice filled with terror.

Mukuro is shaken, but she keeps her grip.

"Chihiro!" yells Natsuki when she catches up with them. "What happened?"

Chihiro can only make sputters and stammers as his voice catches in his throat. Tears quickly start to well up in his eyes.

"Take deep breaths, Chihiro. In… Out… In… Out… Now, tell us what happened."

Chihiro is on the verge of hyperventilating, but he's able to say, "H-He killed me. He killed me!"

The girls' eyes widen.

"Who killed you?" asks Mukuro.

"M-Mondo! He hit me! He hit me in the head!"

They're silent.

"Wh-Wh-Wh… WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" comes from behind them. It's Mondo, and Natsuki is the only one that turns back. Everyone else has moved into the hallway, and they're all looking at Mondo.

Natsuki looks back at Chihiro and says, "You remember how you died?"

He just nods.

"…Take him back to his room," she says to Mukuro.

She gives a single nod and gently leads Chihiro away by the arm.

"Um… Natsuki?" a timid voice pipes up right behind her.

She knows who it is but she turns around anyway. It's Mondo, and he looks…scared, almost.

"Why…why'd I kill Chihiro?" he asks, trying to hide the dread in his voice.

_I know what Daddy said about preventing false memories…but there's no way I can leave him hanging with this._ "…You were under a lot of mental stress at the time. You said afterwards that you didn't remember dealing the fatal blow. Or even picking up the weapon."

Relief washes over Mondo's face, but he still looks tense.

_Of course, that's understandable. Most people wouldn't react well to learning that they're a murderer, even if the victim's alive…_

0~*~0

Chihiro sits alone in his room, the last few moments of his life replaying in his mind over and over.

"Chihiro?"

"AAAHHH!" he yelps.

He looks and sees Masaru standing in the doorway.

"S-Sorry…" the man meekly apologizes.

Chihiro just stares at him, unable to think of anything to say. Then he notices the circuit boards he's holding.

"A-After what happened earlier…I thought maybe doing a bit of programming might help you calm down."

"It…has been a while since I've done any programming…" Chihiro concedes.

Masaru walks into the room and shuts the door behind him. "You see, I'm having trouble with something…"

0~*~0

It's been two months since the School Life of Mutual Killing ended. It's also, coincidentally, the day of the stage play.

Natsuki and the students get front-row seats, but not all of them are excited.

Natsuki glances at Chihiro and Mukuro sitting to her left, with the latter perched precariously on the edge of the bench. Chihiro has a vaguely upset look on his face.

She also glances at Mondo, who's sitting at the other end of the row.

_They haven't talked to each other since Chihiro remembered his death…_, she thinks. _I can't let this last much longer._

Meanwhile, Masaru peeks through the curtain at the audience. His gaze is focused solely on Chihiro.

"Hey," a stage hand whispers to him, "we're ready to start. Get into your position."

Masaru says nothing.

"Masaru—"

"I'm gonna make that kid smile no matter what it takes," he firmly states.

"…What?"

Masaru abruptly walks off backstage, briefly leaving the stage hand confused.

0~*~0

By the end of the first act, Mukuro has opted to sit on the floor.

_So far, this is…underwhelming,_ she thinks._ The concept's good, but the acting is…_

Before she can finish her thought, the curtain rises, revealing the characters searching for something against the backdrop of a forest.

"I must say," says the sidekick, "finding the King of the Dark Forest is turning out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be."

The comic relief says, "Maybe he's bathing under a waterfall."

The hero whirls around to face them and says, "Don't give up! We'll find him before the day ends!"

Mukuro can't help but cringe. _Could they sound any more fake?_

"But where could he possibly be?" asks the hero's apparent love interest.

"_**BEHOLD!"**_ a voice suddenly bellows.

Everyone on the stage looks up. It's Masaru, seemingly standing atop a stage prop with arms spread wide and wearing…a cape.

The shocked expressions on the actors' faces tell Mukuro that this isn't part of the script.

"_**I AM THE KING O' THE DARK FOREST!"**_ He's also speaking with a strange accent.

He jumps off the prop and lands on the stage in front of the heroes, looking at the audience with an immeasurable look of pride on his face.

"Y-You?" stammers the comic relief. "Y-You're the King of the Dark Forest?"

"Ain't that what I just said?" he responds, sounding incredibly smug.

"B-But…" says the sidekick, "We were starting to think that _you were dead._"

Masaru crosses his arms and smirks. "Do I look dead to y'all?"

Nobody responds.

"Now…" He puts his hands on his hips, puffing out his chest. "What can I help y'all with?"

"W-Well…" mumbles the hero, "We… We were wondering if you could help us… A sacred amulet was stolen…"

0~*~0

By the end of the third act, Mukuro is watching with rapt attention. Masaru's antics are the highlight of the show, and she had found herself chuckling and laughing along with everyone else. The others' acting skills have also improved, if sounding improvised.

"Onward! To the sacred amulet and the villain o' the hour!" Masaru yells as he dashes offstage.

The sidekick looks around at the group and says, "Why'd he word it like that?"

They all shrug.

The question ends up being answered minutes later when, after the villain is defeated and the amulet found, Masaru runs up, grabs it, and flees offstage, laughing maniacally.

The band of heroes just stands there, looking baffled.

"What…just happened?" asks the sidekick.

The love interest replies, "He stole the amulet."

"HE WAS PLANNING THIS ALL ALONG!" screams the comic relief.

"After him!" commands the hero.

They all rush offstage as the curtain lowers.

The audience applauds and a stage hand comes out. "Um… P-Please be patient as we prepare for act four!" He quickly ducks back behind the curtain.

"Natsuki," Sayaka asks excitedly, "what happens in act four?"

"I…" says the incredulous girl, "…have no idea. There isn't supposed to be an act four. The King of the Dark Forest wasn't even supposed to be alive. Actually…I don't think Masaru was supposed to be in the play at all."

Mukuro gaze snaps to her. "…Huh?"

"He certainly wasn't in it last year. …It was really dull."

"…Why is he in it this year?"

"I don't know."

After ten minutes, the curtain finally rises. The background is a mix of the forest, the heroes' hometown, and somewhere that Mukuro doesn't recognize. Masaru is standing atop a tall stage prop, wearing the amulet and grinning evilly. Mukuro just barely notices that his irises have turned red.

The heroes rush onstage, the sidekick yelling, "YOU! KING OF THE DARK FOREST!"

Masaru responds by tilting his head at an almost unnatural angle. "Hi, y'all."

"Why'd you steal the amulet?" cries the love interest.

"Why?" His voice has a fake cheeriness to it that does nothing to hide the malice also present. "Do y'all have any idea…how powerful this amulet is?"

He holds up the amulet, his smile widening into a creepy one.

The comic relief replies, "Um… Not really…"

"Well… There ain't any need to tell y'all, is there?"

The hero suddenly takes a prop katana out of nowhere and proclaims, "I know not what you are planning, but I shall not allow you to go any farther!"

Masaru tilts his head to the other side, wringing his hands. "Are ya…challengin' me to a duel?"

The hero responds by rushing up some stage props to where Masaru is, who responds by leaping to another prop.

"I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

A chill runs up Mukuro's spine. Masaru's acting voice makes him sound like a completely different person. For a very, very brief moment, she wonders if _this_ is the real Masaru, not the one she's gotten to know over the past two months. But the thought leaves her mind as quickly as it came, and she soon forgets about it entirely.

Masaru and the hero are locked in a fierce battle…or as fierce as it can be considering it consists of surprisingly good swordplay in between chasing each other by jumping from prop to prop, running across wooden beams straddling the stage air, and swinging from ropes apparently hanging from the ceiling.

Upon seeing the last thing, Mukuro can't help but wonder,_ Just how did they get those things up there without me noticing?_

After about three minutes, Masaru and the hero are once again on top of a wooden beam. This time, though, Masaru seems to be tiring.

_Probably just part of his acting, though._

And then Masaru's foot slips.

He plunges downward…and then grabs the beam with his free hand and somehow manages to swing himself so that he lands right behind the hero.

The audience goes dead silent as the hero frantically looks around before nearly jumping when he sees Masaru's new position.

Masaru just grins.

"I didn't know he could do that…" Natsuki mutters.

_Crack!_

Both men stumble and look down, panic in their eyes.

Mukuro immediately realizes what is happening: the wooden beam is about to break.

Masaru looks back up at the hero, now with a determined expression.

Just as the beam gives way, Masaru lunges the hero, grabs him, and grabs onto a hanging rope with his free hand.

The hero stares down as the pieces of the beam fall onto the stage floor.

Mukuro lets out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

The hero looks up at Masaru, his eyes wide. "You saved me. Why?"

"…I ain't the kind o' man who'd let another fall to his death, enemy or not."

The hero grabs onto the rope before Masaru can let go of him.

Masaru looks down at the love interest, the sidekick, and the comic relief. "Mind givin' us a li'l help?"

After they get the two down, the comic relief leaps onto Masaru, ripping off the amulet. Before Masaru can react, the sidekick also leaps onto him, this time tying him up with a rope he had gotten earlier.

As Masaru lies on the floor, he grins and says, "I shoulda known this was comin'."

The love interest puts her hands on her hips and asks, "Were you…planning this from the very beginning?"

"…Who can say? It don't matter much now, does it?"

"…Whatever. Let's just put an end to this."

She and the hero drag Masaru off the stage, who grins the whole time.

0~*~0

After the play ends, the students rush backstage, Chihiro leading the way.

The moment he sees Masaru, he squeals, "That was amazing!"

Masaru gives a wide, goofy-looking smile. "I'm glad ya liked it." He's still using his stage accent.

"Just what is that accent?" Natsuki asks.

"I was goin' for a southern American kinda thing."

"Southern American?" Mukuro asks almost incredulously.

"Yeah, like Texas or Alabama. …Though I guess you guys wouldn't know."

"…Were you supposed to be in the play?"

"Naw."

"Then why…?"

"I wanted to make Chihiro smile."

"…Thank you," the boy beams.

Mukuro suddenly notices the woman who played the love interest several feet away, staring at Masaru with a thoughtful look on her face.

As the others continue to talk to him, she walks over to the woman and asks, "Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just… I'm wondering where he got those contacts. We don't have _any _colored contacts, let alone red ones. He might've gotten them from the school, though…"

"The school?"

"Yeah, we picked up your bodies from an abandoned school."

"…Oh yeah…" _I had forgotten about that._

"Anyway, it's not that big a deal. Don't worry too much about it."

But the seed of doubt had already been planted in Mukuro's mind, and it wouldn't leave so easily.

_I have a feeling something's going on with Masaru…_

0~*~0

It took weeks for Leon to start physical therapy, and it takes about as long, if not longer, for him to get to the point where he can walk for long distances without help. But when that day finally comes…

"You want to what?" the incredulous teen asks Masaru.

The man's response is, "Test your throwing ability."

"…WHY?"

"You were a baseball player in your old life, and I want to see how much you've deteriorated."

"And just how are we gonna do that?" asks Taeko, who, incidentally, no longer has crutches.

A few minutes later, a simple test is put up in an empty hallway; a bottle on top of a rectangular box ten feet away from Leon.

"All you have to do is knock over the bottle, and we'll move it further away in increments of ten feet until you can't hit it anymore. Simple."

Leon nervously runs his thumb over the baseball in his hand. "Uh…"

"Oh, come on. Nothing bad's going to happen if you don't do well."

Leon rolls up the sleeves of his jacket.

Not so incidentally, it is around this time that all the students begin wearing their normal clothes (though Chihiro goes with something more gender appropriate).

He meekly tosses the ball. It hits the bottle, but doesn't knock it over. Nobody laughs, but Leon's cheeks burn red with embarrassment.

Masaru grabs the ball and hands it back to Leon before yelling, "USE MORE FORCE! THROW LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!"

Leon rolls his eyes, but he throws harder. This time, the bottle is knocked over.

"Good," says Masaru. "Now for the next part."

Three men rush forth. Two measure out ten feet from the box, leading away from Leon. The third moves the box.

After they rush back behind Masaru, Leon throws the ball again. It knocks over the bottle. The process is repeated until they get to fifty feet.

This time, when Leon throws the ball, it hits the top portion of the box, knocking over both it and the bottle.

"I think we're done for today," says Masaru.

Leon grips his shoulder. "Ow."

"…We're _definitely_ done for today."

Sayaka, who was watching, goes up to him and hugs him with a smile on her face. The splints on her wrist and around her torso have long since been removed.

Further away, Mukuro and Natsuki are also watching.

Mukuro frowns. "She spends a lot of time with him, doesn't she?"

Natsuki points out, "Yeah, well, it's understandable."

"…What do you mean?"

"Well, in her old life, all she really had was her job as a pop singer, the other girls in her group, and possibly him. None of those girls are here and probably aren't alive, and she could probably sing for everyone here, but it isn't going to be the primary thing she does. So he's pretty much all she really has at this point, even if she doesn't know it yet."

Mukuro is left nearly speechless. "Um… That's…bleak…"

"Leon's a pretty good guy. He's got a good heart, and he's adorable, too."

Mukuro glances at Leon and Sayaka. They don't seem to have overheard.

The sound of running feet coming from the opposite direction catches her attention. She looks and sees someone running at top speed down the hall towards them.

"Is that…Hifumi?"

Natsuki also looks. "…By golly, I think it is. Why is he-?"

Before she can finish, Hifumi catches up with them and runs up to Natsuki, barely stopping in time to avoid squishing her against the wall.

He grabs her shoulders and screams, "MISSSASAKI! WHATHAPPENEDTOMRNAEGIANDMISSKIRIGIRIANDMISSASAHINAANDMRHAGAKUREANDMISSFUKAWAANDMRTOGAMIANDMISSENOSHIMA!?"

He pants as he tries to catch his breath, looking desperate. Everybody within earshot is staring at him with wide eyes.

"Hifumi…" Natsuki, thoroughly freaked out, squeaks. "I didn't understand a single word you just said…"

Hifumi swallows and much more calmly asks, "What happened to Mr. Naegi? And Miss Kirigiri? And Miss Asahina, Mr. Hagakure, Miss Fukawa, Mr. Togami, and Miss Enoshima?"

"…Oh."

She glances at Mukuro, who gets the unintentional hint and leaves.

She looks back at Hifumi, who still looks desperate. "…Did you remember something?"

He nods. "I…remember them being at school with us. They were also our friends…though I don't seem to remember you being there."

"…I wasn't in your class."

"So what happened to them?"

Natsuki dreads answering the question, but there's no way she can get out of it. And Hifumi's expression makes her feel guilty for delaying the question.

"…Makoto, Kyoko, Hina, Hiro, Toko, and Byakuya all left the school alive. We don't know where they are. As for Junko… She was crushed. She's unrevivable, at least with our current methods."

He lets go of her shoulders, looking downcast. "Oh… I see…"

She can't help but feel even guiltier. "I'm sorry."

He looks back up at her. "I-It's fine. But, um… Can you tell me why they did…this?" He gestures to his body.

It takes her a few seconds to realize what he means. "…You'd have to ask my dad or Masaru about that."

"Ask her dad!" calls Masaru. "I don't want to think about that experience!"

"I couldn't tell you where he is, though."

"…Th-That's okay," says Hifumi. "I think I can find him on my own."

He then turns and leaves.

Natsuki has an odd feeling that she can't quite describe.

0~*~0

Taka reads over the instructions for taking his new seizure medication. He had been having seizures with increasing frequency, up to one almost every other day, each with varying degrees of severity. Dr. Sasaki had prescribed different kinds of medication to him to see what would work. The effects had ranged from nothing to decreasing the frequency to every four days. Hopefully, this new medication (he couldn't remember how the name was pronounced) would get rid of them entirely.

He had initially felt guilty about taking the medication; like someone else should be taking them instead. But Dr. Sasaki had assured him that he was the only person in the hospital that was having seizures; nobody else even needed the meds.

After reading over the instructions twice, his mind wanders over to Hifumi. He isn't sure why, but something about the teen gives him a feeling of dread.

_I wonder what he's doing right now…_

0~*~0

"This whole thing is exhausting."

"I can tell."

Hiyoko runs her fingers through Heizo's hair, half-lying on him in their bed.

"How so?"

"You've been going to bed earlier than normal, but sometimes you lie awake for hours."

Heizo flinches. He had hoped she hadn't noticed that. "…I feel like I haven't been spending much time with Natsuki and the students."

"They're busy with each other."

"Masaru thinks that…"

"There's a lot about Masaru we don't know about. Even some things we don't know we don't know about. Did you see him in the stage play?"

"…I did."

"Everybody has their little secrets."

"…I've been trying to spend time with them, but…I'm…afraid to."

"Why?"

"…The worst secrets are those directly involving other people, especially if they themselves don't remember it."

She presses her lips against his jaw line. "There's not much I can do if you're not willing to talk, but I _can_ give you a little…stress relief."

Heizo's face burns red.

Just then, the door opens.

Both adults freeze up as they stare at Hifumi, the newcomer.

He stares at them for three seconds before saying, "I'll…come back later."

Just before he shuts the door, Heizo gently pushes Hiyoko off, jumps off the bed, and rushes to the door. "W-Wait Hifumi!"

He follows the teen out into the hallway. "Did you need something?"

"Um… I remembered a few things…earlier…and I was wondering why you did…this." He gestures to his body.

"You mean the removal of most of your body fat and excess skin?"

He nods.

"Well, for one thing, it made moving your body much easier. And I couldn't resist the temptation to do so… Having that much fat is… Plus you would have some time to get used to your new physique before remembering your old one."

"…How would you know that about my memory?"

"…"

"Does it have something to do with-?"

"The lock is broken," Hiyoko, who had been examining the door, interjects.

Heizo facepalms. "Oh, Masaru…"

0~*~0

It's been three months since the end of the Killing, and Natsuki is painting in her studio.

Everyone except Mondo has remembered more about their life before Hope's Peak. Chihiro remembered a few things Mondo said right before he hit him with the dumbbell. Nobody else remembers anything from the Killing. Hifumi is, somewhat unsurprisingly, the only one who remembers anything from their time as students, though he only seems to remember things from their first year there. Mukuro remembered more of her time at Fenrir, but that was it.

Right now, though, Natsuki is painting something that's been on her mind for a while.

Just as she paints the finishing stroke, there's a knock on the door.

"Come in!" She looks at the door, hoping it's not one of the subjects of her painting.

It's not. "Oh, hi, Sakura."

The martial artist nods and smiles. "Hello, Natsuki. What are you working on?"

"Just another painting."

Sakura walks over and looks at it.

It's divided into three sections. The top right part shows Sayaka crying into someone's chest, with their arms wrapped around her. The top left part shows a rather upset Leon looking down at something. The top of Sayaka's head is visible just below his face, cut off by the bottom line of that section. The bottom half is zoomed out, showing that Leon is sitting on the edge of a bed with Sayaka sitting on his lap. His grip on her has tightened and tears are running down his face. The words "I'M SORRY" are written above them, painted in a darker shade of blue than the background.

Sakura looks baffled. "…What is this supposed to-? ACK!"

Natsuki jumps, fearing another sudden physical problem. "Wh-What's wrong?"

"I…I…I REMEMBER!"

Natsuki trembles in her swivel seat, frightened by Sakura's outburst. "R-Remember…what?"

"…The first trial."

Natsuki's heart starts racing again, but not from fear. "…From when to when…specifically?"

Sakura shuts her eyes. "From…finding the body…to getting on the elevator after the trial."

"…Oh."

There's an awkward pause.

"Well…" Natsuki states. "Guess now you understand my painting, huh?"

"Indeed," Sakura affirms, crossing her arms. "It feels…strange for them to have their current relationship."

"They still don't remember. Though Sayaka did mention that she feels responsible for all the problems he had when he woke up…"

"I see…"

Sakura's gaze lingers on Natsuki.

"If you want to leave, you can."

"…Thank you," Sakura says as she walks back out.

_So I guess she doesn't understand my painting, _Natsuki thinks. _…I wonder if Mondo's remembered anything yet._

0~*~0

"You still don't remember anything?"

Mondo shakes his head.

"…Why!?" She's surprised by her desperate tone.

"I-I don't know… I just don't."

Natsuki looks at the black Crazy Diamond jacket he's worn almost every day. "Then why are you still wearing that jacket on a daily basis?"

"It's _comfortable_. And warm."

"…Wait right here," she demands before leaving the storage room and heading to her room.

She pulls out a photo album filled with pictures she had taken over the years and flips through the pages until she finds a photo of Mondo and Daiya smiling and giving each other one-armed hugs, with both of them wearing white Crazy Diamond jackets. Some of the other Crazy Diamond gang members are visible in the background. She then heads to the copy room and makes a photocopy of the picture. After returning the picture to the photo album and putting it back in her nightstand, she heads back to the storage room, where Mondo is leaning against the wall, looking bored.

"You sure took a long time doing that," he complains.

Natsuki makes no comment, instead shoving the photo in his face.

He awkwardly grabs it. "What is this?"

"It's a copy of a photo."

Mondo looks it over for a few moments. "Okay, that guy is definitely me, but who's the other guy?"

"Daiya, your older brother."

"I have a brother?"

"Had."

"Whatever." He puts the photo down. "What was the point of showing me this?"

"Does _anything_ in there look even remotely familiar to you?"

"Not in the way that you mean."

She lunges at him and pounds on his chest. "How!? How can you not remember anything!? How can you just forget everything that happened to you!?"

She then slumps to her knees, sobbing as Mondo stares at her in shock. He knows his memory loss isn't technically his fault, but he can't help but feel guilty for making Natsuki cry. So he gets on his knees and pulls her close, letting her sob onto his shirt. He doesn't apologize. It doesn't feel right to apologize for something that's not his fault. Or, in Chihiro's case, something that IS his fault but he can't remember his reasons for doing it.

0~*~0

It's been four months since the end of the Killing, and Mukuro, for some reason, is sitting on Natsuki's bed.

Natsuki stares at her. "How'd you get into my room?"

"The door was unlocked."

"…" _I could've SWORN I locked it…_

"…I remembered something else last night."

Natsuki leans closer. "What?"

"I was…looking out over an arena, like a circular Coliseum. And there was a HUGE—" -she spread out her arms to emphasize- "—monster tearing apart other monsters."

"What did it look like?"

"It was black and had four legs with sharp claws. It could open its mouth really wide and…and I think it had a lot of teeth. Its tail was lined with spikes and it had a horn sticking straight out from its forehead."

"…That's it?"

"I never got a close look at it. And considering how it was acting, I don't think I would've wanted to."

"…How was it acting?"

"It tore apart anything it saw. It didn't seem calculated or hateful, it just looked…angry."

"Angry how?"

"I… It was like it was angry at everything… I don't know how to describe it."

"Pure rage?"

"…I-I guess so…"

Natsuki puts her finger on her chin, looking deep in thought. After several moments, her eyes go wide and her face turns pale.

"What's wrong?"

"…I think I might've realized something horrible."

Mukuro's too nervous to ask what she means.

**Author's note: I have been working on this story for a year. I am amazing at my (albeit erratic) dedication and at how quickly a year went by.**

**I feel like there was more I wanted to add to this chapter, but I got everything I can remember. There was one thing, but I couldn't figure out where to put it in, so I decided to omit it. All it would do is set up a few small gags for later. If I remember anything, I'll add it in later.**

**Next chapter is the final chapter for act 1. I don't think it'll take as long since I'm more motivated right now and a small portion of it was prewritten for a high school class. But we'll see. Hope you enjoy.**


	14. End of the Beginning

It's been five months since the School Life of Mutual Killing ended, and all Mukuro can do is lie in bed and worry about Natsuki. The girl had practically shut herself into her art studio, refusing to come out or even talk to anyone and giving no explanation as to why.

Natsuki has regained most of her memory; all that's missing is everything between the start of her second year at Hope's Peak to waking up with amnesia at the hospital after The Tragedy, at least as far as Mukuro knows. Her mother is also missing the same time gap in her memory, from what Mukuro has heard; she personally hasn't spent much time with Hiyoko.

But she has spent a fair amount of time with Natsuki. She spends no more time with Natsuki than with everybody else (at least individually), but Natsuki is that one Mukuro enjoys being with the most. She's felt compelled to be with her since the day she woke up, and she's not sure why.

Mukuro gets up and walks out of her room…and almost immediately runs into Masaru. "O-Oh hi, Masaru."

"…You worried about Natsuki, too?"

"…Yeah."

"I saw her wandering through the hallway earlier, but she turned around the moment she saw me."

"Hm."

"…Mukuro?"

"Yes?"

"I know this is going to sound weird but… You know I would do anything to keep you and the others safe, right?"

She gives a slight shrug. "I guess. I know now. Why bring it up?"

"If what I think is going to happen soon, happens soon… Well, just keep that in mind."

"What do you think's going to happen?"

He looks around briefly. "Mukuro, during your time here, have you noticed a woman with pinkish-gray hair in this hospital?"

"…Now that you mention it, I think I have. Why?"

He looks around again. "I can't tell you why but…keep her away from Natsuki and the others."

"Um… Okay…"

"Thanks." Masaru then runs off, leaving Mukuro by herself.

She stands there for a few moments before heading off to Natsuki's studio.

She stays in front of the door, not even trying to open it, instead just staring at it sorrowfully. _Natsuki…_

She takes a few steps away from the door when a scream suddenly sounds from behind it. _Natsuki!_

She jolts back to the door, trying and initially failing to open it.

She hears Natsuki again. "No no no no no no no no no no no no NO!"

Mukuro finally slams the door open.

Natsuki is backed up against the wall, shutting her eyes, covering her ears, and shaking her head.

"Natsuki!" Mukuro cries as she runs over to her and quickly brings her into a tight hug, pressing Natsuki's face against her shoulder. "Natsuki…"

Natsuki clings to Mukuro as though her life depends on it, fingers digging into her back.

"M-Mukuro…" Natsuki begs. "Don't… Don't leave me…"

She snivels and trembles as Mukuro strokes her hair.

"It's okay," Mukuro assures her. "You're okay. I'm here."

"Mukuro… Don't let me go… I don't wanna turn back…!"

_Turn back into what?_, Mukuro wonders. "You won't turn back. I won't let you turn back. You'll be okay. I'm here for you, Natsuki."

Mukuro waits for Natsuki's sobs to subside into shaky breaths before speaking again.

"What happened?"

Natsuki swallows hard before choking out, "I…remember…e-everything…"

Mukuro's breath briefly hitches. "…Do you want me to get your parents?"

"N-Not… Not right now…"

"…Do you want me to get the others?"

Natsuki's grip tightens. "…Not yet."

"…Do you want me to stay?"

"…Yes."

"Okay."

Afterwards, there's silence, interrupted only by Natsuki's sniffles.

Until…

"Hey, what happened?" Masaru calls from the doorway.

"I heard screaming…" Chihiro says with concern.

Sakura bellows, "Are you girls all right!?"

Mukuro hears eight sets of footsteps rushing toward them. She looks up and sees the other students crowding around them, with Masaru standing in the doorway.

Natsuki keeps her face buried in Mukuro's shoulder as the latter explains to the others what had happened.

"I see…"

"Um…Natsuki?" Chihiro pipes up. "Do you…want to talk about…what you remembered?"

Natsuki gives brief, dry chuckle. "…Not yet."

"When you do feel like telling us," Taeko says in a formal tone, "feel free to let us know."

"…Thank you."

Masaru suddenly says, "May I help you madam?" to someone in the hallway, shutting the door behind him.

After a few moments, Natsuki finally pulls away from Mukuro and looks at everyone else. Her face is still red and tears are still coming out of her eyes, but she's smiling. "You guys… These last few months I've spent with you…have been the happiest of my life. I mean that."

Mukuro's immediate thought is, _The happiest of her life?_

0~*~0

Afterwards, the ten former high school students stay together.

A few hours later, Natsuki takes Mukuro aside into her room.

"There's something I've been meaning to show you," Natsuki says, "but I haven't had a chance to do so."

Mukuro glances around uneasily. "Okay."

In one swift movement, Natsuki takes off her shirt, exposing her plain white bra…and the very noticeable, hideous-looking circular scar on the center of her chest, right over her heart.

Mukuro cringes.

"I have a bigger scar on my back," Natsuki reveals, turning around, "but that one's almost impossible to see."

It takes a bit of looking, but Mukuro finds a splotch a few shades lighter than the rest of Natsuki's skin just below her left shoulderblade. "How did…?"

"The one on my chest got infected. It didn't get too bad, but it seriously messed up the healing process. There wasn't much Dad's serum could do back then beyond keeping it from spreading."

"…I was gonna ask how and when you got injured."

"It happened during The Tragedy. How I got it is a lot harder to explain."

"Why?"

"You don't remember anything about The Tragedy, do you?"

"No… I don't think so…"

"Then you don't remember enough to be able to understand. In other words…it's a long story."

Mukuro feels that buzzing in her head again. She tries to speak, but it overwhelms her mind, pushing out all her thoughts and invading her mind's eye.

Standing on a strange bear… Being impaled by spears… Pain. Confusion. Despair. Falling…

Two hands grab her arms before she hits the ground, holding her up.

"Mukuro?"

Fear surges through the girl as she flinches away from the voice.

"Mukuro, it's me, Natsuki."

Natsuki's worried expression comes into view as Mukuro's vision starts to clear. "S-Suki…"

Natsuki hugs Mukuro to her, letting the girl's chin rest on her shoulder. Mukuro feels tears run down her cheeks, but she doesn't openly sob as Natsuki had.

She swallows and chokes out, "D-Did I…? Was I…impaled…?"

"Yes, you died by being impaled by spears," Natsuki confirms.

Mukuro idly notes that Natsuki is still shirtless, but she doesn't really care. The resurfaced memory of her death is far more important. Her chest feels like it's seizing up, like it's being speared all over again.

_Is this…how Chihiro felt? And what was with that bear?_

"It's okay… It's okay…" Natsuki soothes, gently rocking her back and forth.

After tears stop coming out of Mukuro's eyes, she breaks the hug and asks, "You said the mastermind killed me, right?"

"Yeah."

"So was that bear…?"

…_I don't really think I should tell her but…_ "It was a robot the mastermind was controlling remotely."

"Oh."

Mukuro feels the buzzing in her brain again, but tries to shove it aside.

"So now what?"

"If you feel like it," Natsuki replies, putting her shirt back on, "we can rejoin the others."

Mukuro nods. _I'm not sure if I should… But I definitely want to. …What is this weird feeling of guilt?_

0~*~0

"How long do you think they'll be gone?" Mondo asks idly.

"Dunno," Leon replies as he notices Chihiro straining to reach something on a tall shelf in the warehouse-like room.

Just before he can offer to help…

_CRASH!_

Leon freezes, eyes wide. "…What was that?"

"I think that was from next door," Mondo replies.

The three of them rush out and head to the room next door. Hiyoko is sitting on the floor next to a fallen swivel chair, looking extremely startled.

"Mrs. Sasaki?" Mondo asks. "Are you okay?"

She gives no response, nor does she even acknowledge their presence.

"Mrs. Sasaki?"

"…Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why did Natsuki…?"

"What did she do?"

She finally notices them. "…Does she remember?"

"Uh, she regained the last of her memory earlier, so probably."

"Take me to her. No, take me to my husband."

Mondo and Leon wordlessly help her up, her expression never changing.

They find Heizo in the garages, where he's overseeing the count of the various automotive supplies.

The moment he sees them, he goes over to them and asks, "Is something wrong?"

Hiyoko practically shoves off the boys and throws herself onto her husband.

Heizo is taken aback. "H-Hiko?"

Hiyoko holds onto him tighter and the teen boys quietly slink away.

0~*~0

By the time they get back to the room they were in, Chihiro has resorted to using a stepstool. Unfortunately, it's still not enough.

"Need some help?" Leon offers.

"Y-Yeah… Can you just…put me on your shoulders?" Chihiro asks.

Leon is surprised by the odd request, but does what Chihiro asked and awkwardly puts the smaller boy on his shoulders. Unfortunately, it's still not enough. So Mondo tries putting Chihiro on his shoulders, but that doesn't work either.

So instead they try…

"Almost…got it… Hey, stop moving so much!"

"Hey, you're standing on my shoulders!" Leon reminds him.

"You guys are heavy…" Mondo complains as he tries to keep Leon's sneakers from slipping off his nearly-bare shoulders.

"Just what are you trying to get, anyway?" Leon finally asks.

And it's at that exact moment that Masaru, Natsuki, and Mukuro enter the room.

There's a few moments of silence before Masaru, in a very distressed tone, yells out, "The hell y'all doin'!? Git down from there!"

"What the heck is that accent?" Mukuro asks.

Natsuki answers, "I believe it's the one he used in the stage play…"

As Masaru works to take down the precarious tower, Mondo calls out, "By the way, Natsuki, I think your mom regained her memory."

Natsuki flinches. "…Oh."

0~*~0

Natsuki spends the rest of the day trying to avoid her parents. She ends up opting to spend the night in Mukuro's room.

"Is it just me," Mukuro asks, "or has Masaru been acting a bit oddly since you fully regained your memory?"

"Forget my memory; he's been acting kinda weird since the day Leon fell down the stairs," Natsuki replies.

"…Oh, yeah. I forgot about that."

"How can you forget someone falling down the stairs and getting severe pneumonia!?"

Before Mukuro can answer, the lights start flickering.

"I still get uneasy whenever that happens," Natsuki notes.

"…Not to change the subject, but we never did go into the basement, did we?"

"We didn't. And to be honest, I don't think we should."

"Why not?"

"…I have a bad feeling about what's down there. Of course, I also have a bad feeling about tomorrow, so who knows?"

"Do you think something's going to happen?"

"I just have a bad feeling."

0~*~0

The next morning after breakfast, Natsuki and Mukuro head to Natsuki's studio where Mukuro eventually asks, "Why were you avoiding your parents yesterday?"

Natsuki pauses. "I need to think of how to say what I need to say."

"What do you need to say?"

Natsuki pauses for even longer. Mukuro can't see Natsuki's face as it's hidden by the easel she's working on. Natsuki stands up and walks around the easel, looking nervous.

"Well…" she hesitates. "You see… I, uh… I…"

Before she can say another word, her eyes go wide as though realizing something bad. Natsuki slowly puts her hand to her chest. After several seconds, her expression turns into one of absolute dread.

"Oh no…" she moans.

"Natsuki?" Mukuro worriedly asks, standing up. "What's wrong?"

Natsuki stumbles forward, grabbing Mukuro's shoulder. "M-My heart…"

Mukuro puts her hand on Natsuki's chest, right over her heart. There's no heartbeat.

Right as Mukuro realizes this, it starts up again, irregular and erratic.

Natsuki's face has gone pale and she looks like she's about to panic.

Thinking fast, Mukuro scoops up Natsuki into her arms and takes her out of the room.

"Wh-Where are you…taking me?" Natsuki whimpers.

"The cardiologist," Mukuro answers. _I just hope he's there…_

Mukuro rushes through the hallway, ignoring anybody she passes. She's hurried by the sensation of the warmth draining out of Natsuki's body.

By the time she gets to the cardiologist's office, Natsuki's skin has turned clammy and there's only the faintest hint of warmth to her skin.

The cardiologist looks surprised to see them. "Oh. Hello, you two. What seems to be the problem?"

"Natsuki's heart stopped earlier and now it's beating irregularly," Mukuro answers.

The cardiologist's expression is one of shock that quickly morphs into professional concern. He has Mukuro set Natsuki down on a bed in a nearby observation room, where he sets up an ECG.

The moment his hand touches Natsuki's bare skin…

"Agh!" he yelps, pulling back. "Your skin's like ice!"

Natsuki just nods.

After putting on all the electrodes, they look at the monitor. Mukuro isn't sure what an ECG of a normal heart looks like, but she's pretty sure it doesn't look like Natsuki's current one; irregularly sized spikes spaced out in rapid but unequal patterns.

The cardiologist looks very concerned. "…How do you feel?"

Natsuki stares ahead blankly. "…Lightheaded, cold, and I think part of my chest is numb."

"Numb?"

"I can feel my blood pulsing through my veins, but I don't think I can feel my heart in my chest."

"Huh…" The cardiologist looks torn. "And my assistant's out scavenging…"

Mukuro looks up at him. "Something wrong?"

"…Could you…keep an eye on her? I need to look through my materials and hopefully get a diagnosis. Yell if something happens."

With that, he leaves the room, leaving the door open behind him.

Mukuro looks back at Natsuki, who's glancing at her through the corner of her eye. She's been holding her hand the whole time, and it's still just as cold.

"Mukuro?" Natsuki asks.

"Yes?" Mukuro responds.

"Remember where that scar I showed you yesterday is?"

"Yes…"

"Press on it."

"…Why?"

"Just do it."

Mukuro stares at Natsuki's chest and glances at the doorway.

_I really hope nobody comes in…_, Mukuro thinks before pressing two fingers on the center of Natsuki's chest, right over her heart and between her prominent breasts.

"Can you feel that?" Mukuro asks.

"No…" Natsuki replies.

Mukuro slides her hand under Natsuki's shoulders and presses against the scar on her back.

"Can you feel that?"

"…Feel what, specifically?"

"My fingers against the scar on your back."

"…I don't think I can." Natsuki's eyes suddenly go wide.

"Is something wrong?"

"…I think I just realized…why this is happening."

"Why?"

"Has to do…with how I got the scars."

Mukuro waits for her to continue, but she doesn't. "…Are you gonna tell me?"

"No."

The two of them are silent afterwards. Mukuro keeps glancing at the door, but nobody comes. Ten minutes later, the cardiologist still hasn't come back. Natsuki's ECG has stabilized slightly, though it still seems rapid.

"N-Natsuki!?"

Mukuro turns to look at the doorway, startled. It's Sayaka, oddly enough.

"What happened!?" the blue-haired girl asks concernedly.

Natsuki robotically greets, "Hi Sayaka."

"Something's wrong with Natsuki's heart, so I took her here," answers Mukuro. "Though I'm not sure if the cardiologist can really help… Is something wrong?"

"Um…" Sayaka begins nervously. "I know it's pretty early but…have either of you seen Masaru today?"

"No," both girls answer.

Natsuki asks, "Why?"

"I've been trying to find him since breakfast, but so far nobody's seen him," Sayaka explains.

Mukuro looks thoughtful. "Huh. By the way Sayaka, could you hold Natsuki's hand so I can go to the bathroom?"

Sayaka looks baffled and a bit disturbed. "Huh?"

"Just do it," Natsuki orders.

"…O-Okay…"

Sayaka slowly walks up to them and takes Natsuki's hand as Mukuro lets go of it. A chill runs up Sayaka's spine when she feels how cold Natsuki's hand is, but she says nothing. Mukuro then leaves the room and Sayaka sits in the chair next to the bed.

The silence doesn't last long before Natsuki asks, "How much do you remember?"

Sayaka thinks for a bit before answering, "I remember being alone a lot as a child…and I remember seeing a crane in middle school…and a few other things…and that's about it."

"Nothing about how you died?"

"No, I don't think so…"

"Do you feel…uneasy when you get into a shower?"

Sayaka looks surprised. "Actually, I do. How'd you guess?"

"…Because I'm psychic."

"…You're just joking. I died in a shower, didn't I?"

"…Yes." _I thought that would trigger something, but I guess not…_

There's silence again, as both girls are unsure of what to say next. It lasts until Mukuro comes back and takes her place next to Natsuki again.

"By the way," Mukuro calls as Sayaka leaves, "could you tell the others about Natsuki?"

"Sure."

With that, Sayaka leaves to resume searching for Masaru just as the cardiologist comes in.

"I have searched through all of my records," he says, "and I can't find anything matching your symptoms."

"We've identified two other aspects about it," Natsuki tells him.

"What?"

"Constant physical contact with someone else on any part of my body seems to help…and the scars on my chest and back are completely numb."

The cardiologist thinks for a moment and says, "I see… I'll tell your father of this."

Natsuki jolts upright, but he's gone before she can object.

She slumps back into the bed. "But I'm not mentally ready to face him yet…"

"Why?" asks Mukuro.

"Huh?"

"Why are you 'not mentally ready to face him yet'? What do you even need to confront him about?"

"…I really want to tell you… But you don't remember enough to understand. Or maybe I'm just reluctant to say it…"

"Why?"

"I want to get it off my chest…but…nevermind."

"What?"

"Nevermind. There's no point in explaining it."

Mukuro tries to prod her into explaining, but Natsuki remains quiet. She eventually gives up, once again leaving both girls in silence.

0~*~0

The next person to come isn't Heizo, surprisingly, but Hifumi, who is still just as skinny as he had been after his revival.

"Miss Sasaki!" he yells with palpable concern in his voice.

Natsuki looks at him but says nothing.

"Hello Hifumi," Mukuro tiredly greets.

Hifumi's panic dissolves away as he looks over Natsuki. "Miss Maizono told me that-"

"Something was wrong with Natsuki," Mukuro finishes.

Hifumi shrinks back slightly. _That wasn't exactly what she said…_

The cardiologist suddenly comes in, glancing curiously at Hifumi.

Natsuki goes rigid and stares at him. "Well?"

The cardiologist rubs his chin and says, "He was very worried, but he said he wouldn't come unless you asked him to because he didn't want to make you uncomfortable. He also told me to tell you that you can talk to him whenever you feel ready, whatever that means."

Natsuki looks down at her feet, her expression a mix of relief and guilt. Mukuro hears her mumble something, but can't make it out.

The rest of the students come to check on Natsuki over the course of the next two hours.

When lunchtime comes, Mukuro moves her hand to Natsuki's shoulder, which is just as cold, and eats with one hand.

When the cardiologist sees this, he says, "Um, Mukuro, I'm not sure that's necessary…"

Mukuro replies, "I don't want to risk Natsuki's heart stopping."

He stares a bit before saying, "Well, I'm not gonna stop you."

An hour later, Mukuro says, "So… Your mom apparently regained her memory."

Natsuki gives no response.

"I wonder how she's…do…"

Mukuro trails off as she looks at the doorway and sees Mrs. Sasaki standing there. She's gripping the doorframe and looks like she's about to collapse.

"N…Natsuki…" the woman says weakly.

Natsuki's expression is a mix of surprise and guilt. "M-Mom…!"

Hiyoko pushes off of the doorframe and stumbles over to Natsuki.

_Why is she walking like that?_, Mukuro wonders. _Is she in pain or something?_

Hiyoko sits on the edge of the bed and pulls Natsuki into a hug, forcing Mukuro to let go of her hand. She barely notices the tears running down Hiyoko's cheeks. Natsuki hesitantly returns the hug.

All three of them are silent until Hiyoko breaks the hug, looks Natsuki in the eye and says, "We'll talk about it later, okay?"

"Okay," Natsuki replies. Mukuro can't see her expression.

With that, Hiyoko gets up and leaves, her walking much more stable than when she came in.

Mukuro looks at Natsuki and takes her hand, which is noticeably warmer than it was before. "What was she referring to?" Mukuro inquires.

Natsuki doesn't even look at her.

Mukuro is still there by the time dinner comes. She's had various people hold Natsuki's hand for her so she can get up and stretch her legs or get something for Natsuki to do.

While they're eating, Natsuki says, "Can I tell you something?"

Mukuro swallows before answering, "Sure."

"I miss my boyfriend."

"…You have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah. He's not here, though."

"What's his name?"

"…I'll tell you when I find out what happened to him."

"What do you mean?"

"I have no idea where he is or even if he's still alive. The last time I saw him was a year or so before The Tragedy."

"How come you never mentioned him before?"

"Nobody ever asked and I didn't really have an appropriate time to bring him up after I remembered him."

Mukuro gives her a look of suspicion.

"Don't get the wrong idea; it's not like I don't care about him. On the contrary, he's the one I cared about the most before The Tragedy besides my parents!"

"What about Kiyoshi?"

"She's more of a childhood babysitter turned adult friend. To be honest, I don't really like spending time with her anymore. It's not really her fault; I just had a…uh…confined childhood, and she's a reminder of that."

"Confined?"

"I prefer not to talk in detail about my childhood unless it's absolutely necessary. I will say, though, that I've had a profound effect on Kiyoshi. When she started babysitting me, she was a hikikomori. Now she's married and has a six-year-old son."

"She does!?"

"Yes. They're also here. I'm not surprised you don't know about them; you don't really spend any time with her. Anyway, I met my boyfriend in middle school. He was pretty shy about talking to me at first, but he was really nice and we became fast friends. He also helped me through a…really rough time in my life. At the end of middle school, we confessed our love to each other and I pestered Daddy to let me go to the same school my boyfriend was going to. Of course, I never mentioned my boyfriend to him or Mom. Though getting invited to Hope's Peak Academy after my first year disrupted my plans to stay with my boyfriend…"

"…You really like your boyfriend, don't you?" Mukuro deadpans.

Natsuki smiles. "This is the first time I've gotten to talk in depth about him to anybody. I got invited to the Academy because of my talent in painting, drawing, and sculpting. I figured that if I went there, since it's said that graduates are set for life, I'd be able to find or build my dream home."

"Your dream home?"

"A simple house in the countryside, near a forest or somewhere else nature-y. Of course, The Tragedy has made that nearly impossible. I suppose if there was enough of a movement, everyone here could restore this area's plant life… but that won't be happening any time soon."

"Why not?"

"We kinda need to take back the area first. And I don't even know where we'd get the plants."

Just then, somebody else comes in.

"Masaru?"

"Ah, hello you two," he says. "I heard something was wrong with Natsuki so I wanted to check in."

"Sayaka was looking for you earlier."

"I know… It's embarrassing to admit, but I had locked myself in a locker."

"You what?"

"The lockers in the locker room can't be opened from the inside. Anyway, you girls seem pretty okay with each other, so I'll take my leave now."

After he's gone, Natsuki says, "See what I mean?"

"Huh?"

0~*~0

_Your hair's so short… Maybe if you grew it out, you'd look a little prettier. Not that you could ever be as beautiful as me._

Mukuro jolts awake at the sound of the voice. It was similar to Natsuki's, but sounded…sinister. Just like the voice that pointed out her missing freckles months before…

The previous night, Mukuro, still afraid of what would happen if she left Natsuki alone, opted to spend the night with her. Natsuki had put a pillow on her lap for Mukuro to put her head on. And so Mukuro had slept like that, leaning over the bed while sitting in the chair and resting her head on the pillow. Now that she's awake, her abrupt movement makes her back start hurting.

"Ow."

"I had a feeling that would happen."

Mukuro looks at Natsuki, who's sitting upright and crossing her arms.

"Did I oversleep?" Mukuro asks.

"Not really, but you did sleep long enough for my symptoms to go away."

"…What?"

Natsuki holds out her arm. Mukuro grabs it and feels that it's now warm. Well, her skin's a little cold, but nothing like the corpse-like cold of the previous day.

"I turned the ECG off myself," Natsuki explains, "but I wanted to wait to leave until the cardiologist came back."

Right at that moment, the cardiologist comes in.

"Ah, perfect timing," Natsuki says.

"Did something happen?" he asks.

"My heart problems, low temperature, and chest numbness appear to have disappeared."

"What!?"

After turning the ECG back on (Natsuki had left the electrodes in place) and confirming that her heartbeat was back to normal, as was her body temperature, the cardiologist had little choice but to let them go, albeit with orders not to leave Natsuki unattended for a while in case something happened to her again.

"I wasn't really planning on being alone anyway," Natsuki notes.

The girls head out and quickly run into all the other students, who are all relieved if slightly baffled at Natsuki's fast recovery.

Before the conversation can derail, Natsuki interjects, "Does anyone know where my dad is?"

"I think I saw him in the conference room," answers Mondo.

"Great, thanks," she says before abruptly heading off.

The students glance around at each other as Mukuro follows after her, being careful not to get too close.

Once they get to the conference room, Natsuki briefly hesitates before heading in. Mukuro stays near the door, leaving it just open enough for her to look in.

Dr. Sasaki is drawing something on a whiteboard.

Natsuki slowly goes up to him and says, "Um… Daddy?"

He turns to look at her but says nothing.

"I… Uh… I'm sorry."

He puts down the marker and walks up to her. His expression is…sad, yet loving.

"I already told you sweetie, I forgive you," he says as he pulls Natsuki into a hug.

"…How can you forgive me so easily!?" she asks incredulously.

"It wasn't your fault. And more good came out of it than you realize."

"How could any good have possibly-?"

"If you hadn't done what you did, we wouldn't have the serum and reviving the students wouldn't have been possible."

_If she hadn't done what she did?_, Mukuro thinks. _What did she do?_

"But…" Natsuki whimpers, her voice cracking. "How could…? I…"

Natsuki starts sobbing into her dad's chest as he holds her tighter. Mukuro can hear him murmuring something, but can't make out what.

She pulls back and checks the hallway. The only other person is a woman with pinkish-gray hair staring at her.

"What?" Mukuro asks defensively.

"Are you eavesdropping on someone?" the woman inquires.

"It's none of your business," Mukuro spits out more harshly than she meant to.

"No need to be so hostile," the woman grumbles as she leaves.

Mukuro looks back through the door. Natsuki is still crying.

"I don't deserve any of this," the girl chokes out.

"If things were as bad as you said they were," Heizo says, "I'd say you were long overdue for it."

_What on Earth are they talking about?_, Mukuro wonders.

They continue talking, but they're too quiet for Mukuro to hear more than a few words. After a while, Natsuki pulls away and says, "I need to go talk to mom."

"All right," Heizo says. "If there's anything else you want to tell me later…"

"I'll let you know."

Mukuro pulls back and looks around, trying to find a hiding spot. There's nothing, so she flattens herself against the wall next to the door. The doors swing open and Natsuki rushes out, sprinting down the hall. Mukuro doesn't even try to follow her. Nobody can run as fast as Natsuki.

0~*~0

"Have you noticed Masaru acting kinda weird lately?" Miko asks Juria as they help with the laundry.

Juria responds, "He's always acting nowadays. It's kinda sad."

"That's not what I meant," Miko fiercely whispers. "He's been paranoid and restless."

"Oh. I haven't noticed that. Actually, I've barely seen him at all lately."

"I'm worried. Something may be going on with him."

"Like what?"

Miko shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe he found out something."

0~*~0

Masaru patiently waits for Natsuki outside her parents' room. He knows she's in there because he saw her go in.

Sure enough, Natsuki comes out after about half an hour, and when she sees him…

"GAAAAH!"

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," he apologizes.

"…Is something wrong?"

"No, I just wanted to talk to you. Walk with me."

As they walk side by side, Masaru resumes talking. "This is quite an interesting little story we have going on here."

"Story?" Natsuki says, sounding incredulous.

"Reviving the dead, amnesia, a self-sustaining population in a hospital, a despair-induced apocalypse… Things that shouldn't be real but for us, they are! And it's not a story about just one person; it's about you and the other students. Other people must necessarily have less focus, but that doesn't mean they can't be important. Sometimes, the most important person is the one revealed at the very end. Or maybe it's the one seen at the very beginning but doesn't seem important at the time. And other times, a seemingly important character turns out to be nothing or have little importance to the plot."

Natsuki stares at him. "You don't have frontotemporal dementia, do you?"

Masaru has never heard of it, but he still says, "No. But how do you know about it?"

"My dad is the Ultimate Surgeon. I have above-average medical knowledge."

Masaru says nothing and soon separates from her.

Natsuki looks for the other students, eventually finding them in the library. Mukuro had already joined back up with them.

"Sorry about leaving so suddenly," Natsuki says. "I needed to have a private talk with my parents."

Mukuro looks away but nobody notices.

"That's perfectly fine," Sakura assures her, "but do tell us next time."

Natsuki nods. They all spend the rest of the day in the library.

Mukuro opts to sleep in her own room.

_My back is still sore._

_That's good. You won't be able to fight back tomorrow._

Mukuro bolts upright. "Who the hell are you!?"

There's no response.

Mukuro groans and flops onto her bed.

_I wonder what they think is going to happen tomorrow…_

0~*~0

There's a rather subdued atmosphere at breakfast, interrupted only by Taeko nearly spilling hers on her shirt.

Afterwards, Mukuro tells Natsuki of what the strange voice had told her the previous night. Natsuki looks deeply troubled.

"If they were telling the truth," she says, "then something very, very bad is going to happen today."

"Any ideas?"

"If the owner of that voice is who I think it is, then it could mean only one thing. But for that to be the case, it would mean something even worse…"

"I-I meant any ideas on what we can do."

"The safest thing would be to tell my dad and let him handle it."

"Where's your dad?"

0~*~0

"I didn't think you'd be here."

Masaru quickly turns around, startled. "Dr. Sasaki, please don't scare me like that."

Heizo simply walks over and leans against the guard rail next to Masaru, staring out over the horizon. "We've come a long way, haven't we?"

"…In what regard, sir?"

"Just…in general. The community, my daughter…and us."

"Sir… The way you're saying this makes it sound like lead-up to a love confession."

"Oh, no no, definitely no. I just feel like I've gotten to know you pretty well over these last five months."

"I still can't believe it's been so long. It feels like only yesterday we were at Hope's Peak and…"

"That's what memory feels like. Forever ago and only yesterday…"

"So, any reason you're up here?"

"Just wanted to do some reflecting. As for you, my opinion of you has changed quite a lot since that day."

"Really?"

"Oh yes. I remember thinking, as we were looking at someone's corpse in the Biology Lab, if you were a part of Ultimate Despair."

Masaru is shocked. "Huh?"

"You had just asked me if I was planning on bringing back Junko. At this point, though, I'm quite certain that you aren't and never were."

Masaru is relieved. "Oh good. Though I think that if you're ever part of Ultimate Despair, you stay that way."

Heizo is silent for several seconds. "N-Not necessarily."

"M-My point is that if I had been part of Ultimate despair back then, I would probably still be now."

"I get you."

"Speaking of Ultimate Despair, I've had a feeling for a while that some of its members are in the hospital."

Heizo turns to face him. "Why?"

"Just a feeling."

0~*~0

"Let me get this straight," Leon says, pale-faced. "The leader of Ultimate Despair and the person responsible for our deaths was our classmate!?"

"Junko Enoshima, originally the Ultimate Fashionista," Natsuki replies.

All the students are there, and the only other person who had a strong reaction is Hifumi, who is so stunned he hasn't said a word yet.

Mondo asks, "Do you think she's the ghost who's supposedly been haunting this place?"

"Probably. I can't think of many other people it could be."

"A teenage girl was able to end the world?" scoffs Taeko.

"I know it sounds ridiculous," says Natsuki, "but it's true. …I saw it firsthand. And so did you guys, technically."

"Even if she is haunting us," notes Sakura, "I don't see how much harm she can do as a ghost."

"Before we get too far off topic," Natsuki interrupts, "there's something else you need to know about Ultimate Despair."

"What?"

Natsuki hesitates, looking nervous. "W-Well… I- …Is someone laughing?"

"Not me," Leon says defensively. "…Or any of us, I think."

The hallway lights then start to flicker as the laughing becomes more and more noticeable. A feeling of dread settles over Natsuki as she slowly turns around.

Something approaches from down the hallway. At first, it looks like air distortion, but as it gets closer, it becomes clearer and colored until its identity is undeniable.

"M-Miss Enoshima…" Hifumi breathes.

Junko continues to walk towards them, giving a low demented laugh. Her gait is unsteady and her body hangs at an odd angle.

"Run," Natsuki says.

When nobody moves, Natsuki turns around and shouts, "Run!"

After hesitating for a moment, everyone runs down the hallway away from Junko. Natsuki watches them until they're out of sight. She turns back…

And Junko, semitransparent, is inches from her face, grinning like a maniac.

Natsuki is startled, but quickly hardens her face.

"Hello, Natsuki," Junko giggles, the malice in her voice barely detectable. Her smile and sunken eyes are noticeably wider than should be possible for a human. It makes her look highly creepy.

"What do you want, Junko?" Natsuki snarls.

"I want despair, obviously." Junko then bursts into uproarious laughter. "Just kidding. I want that too, but what I really want is to have them back."

"You can't have them," Natsuki states defiantly.

"Oh… But you're curious about what I mean, aren't you?"

Natsuki says nothing.

"Your eyes give it away. I'd love to tell you all about it, but we don't have much time. So instead, I'll show you…"

Before Natsuki can react, Junko grabs the girl's face with both her hands, her nails digging into the skin. Images flash through Natsuki's mind, staying just long enough for her to see all of it.

Junko abruptly lets go, shoving Natsuki back.

"Frightening, isn't it?" Junko sneers in a sickly sweet voice. "With a memory like yours, you'll be able to make paintings of all of them and show everyone…just what I'm capable of."

"You'll never have them," Natsuki retorts.

"Personally, I won't have them back for at least a while. But soon Ultimate Despair will."

"…Huh?"

Junko gives a lopsided grin. "Did you really think that your dad would be able to keep Ultimate Despair out of this place? There are many of them here, and today…they're gonna take you and the other students away and brainwash you into joining."

"You're lying," Natsuki panics.

"Natsuki, you know I don't lie about things like this. I don't lie to cause despair when the truth is more than enough."

"Why are you so obsessed with despair?"

"Because despair is my destiny!" Junko screams.

…_Is it just me or was there something odd about her tone just now?_, Natsuki wonders.

Junko hardens her face. "You can never escape despair, Natsuki."

Natsuki starts backing away as Junko continues talking. She quickly realizes she'll regret staying to listen and runs away as Junko begins laughing again.

She runs faster as the ghost's laugh becomes increasingly demonic.

0~*~0

"Sir! Sir!" a desperate voice calls out from Heizo's radio.

Heizo takes it off his belt and says, "Hello? Is something wrong?"

"Someone's disabled the gate controls!"

Heizo and Masaru quickly walk over to the side of the roof where they can see the wall gate. It's open.

"Activate the emergency controls," Heizo orders, his voice rising.

"Those have been disabled too."

"Then use the manual controls."

"They've been destroyed."

Heizo's eyes widen. Not many people knew the wall gate even had manual controls, let alone where they were.

As Heizo mentally goes through all the people that have been on gate duty, Masaru suddenly points and yells, "Sir, look!"

Heizo looks and is horrified to see an army of Monokumas coming through the gate, with many of them having already gone through and heading straight for the hospital's entrance.

Heizo speeds for the roof's door. "We have to warn them!"

Masaru follows right behind him. "I'll get the students!"

0~*~0

Sayaka and Leon had stayed together and stopped near the hospital's entrance. Right now, they're trying to catch their breath.

"That…was freaky," Leon pants.

Sayaka nods. Before she can say anything, screaming comes from down the hall. They turn around just in time to see a Beast Monokuma come around the corner.

"What the hell is that!?" Leon screams, still panting.

They start running as it charges towards them, but they're quickly stopped by a Ball Monokuma. Before they can do anything else, the Beast Monokuma pounces on them, pinning them to the ground. Less than a minute later, the Monokuma backs away, allowing two normal Monokuma to grab the teens and stuff them into separate metal boxes with small holes in the top for air.

The metal boxes are then closed and carried away by other Monokumas.

0~*~0

Mondo trembles before the bizarre black-and-white bears in front of him.

"Please don't hurt me," he whimpers.

One of them lunges at him and grabs him by the neck…and then shoves him into a metal box and closes the lid.

Mondo is relieved at his life being spared at the moment, but he has no idea what's going to happen to him now, and he's too scared to try to escape.

0~*~0

Sakura throws one Monokuma onto another, causing both to explode. The other Monokumas are cautious about their distance; far enough away to avoid being in easy reach of her and close enough to keep her from escaping. She had seen one effortlessly pick up Chihiro and put him in a metal box before she could do anything, and she's not going without a fight.

Suddenly, something jabs her in the back of her arm. Sakura immediately tries to hit whatever is behind her as she turns around, but all that's there is a syringe on the floor. The Monokumas take advantage and try to pounce on her, but she knocks them back. In less than a minute, she starts to feel lightheaded and she soon collapses. The Monokumas pick her up and carry her to the box. She's passed out before they've put her in.

0~*~0

Juria hides by the hospital's front doors, hoping the Monokumas don't see her. She watches them carry in ten large metal boxes and watches as they gradually carry them back out. Once the tenth box has been taken outside, the horde of Monokumas rush out of the hospital. When no more come or go, Juria comes out of her hiding place and stares out the front doors. She can see that the outer wall's gate is wide open, but she can't see any of the Monokumas.

"Juria!" a voice calls out from behind her.

She turns around and sees Masaru running towards her and looking panicked.

When Masaru catches up to her, he yells, "J-Juria! They took them! They took all of them!"

"Wh-What?" she stammers, confused.

"The Monokumas! Th-They took the students!"

"What!?"

"I… I have to go after them!" he resolves, rushing out the doors.

"Ah-! Wait! Masaru!" Juria calls after him. But it's too late.

Juria tries to run after him, but her foot catches in her kimono and she falls over. By the time she gets back up, Masaru has run well past the wall gate. Juria knows she wouldn't be able to catch up to him even without the kimono, so instead she runs back inside the hospital.

0~*~0

Junko watches Masaru run off from atop the roof. She can barely keep herself from laughing.

"Ahahahahahaha! Oh, Masaru you noble idiot! They'll never find them without you! Good job!"

Once she settles down a bit, she suddenly remembers something.

"It's strange, though… Not one of them mentioned using Monokumas…"

And then she realizes.

0~*~0

The moment the freakish-looking Monokuma has left his office, Heizo rushes in…only to find that the PA system's mic has been snapped in half.

Heizo promptly headdesks.

After a few minutes, the voice comes back on over the radio. "S-Sir, I-I think the Monokumas are gone."

"Are you sure?" Heizo asks.

"Pretty sure. Very sure."

"Do a head count. Find out if anyone's dead or missing, or if someone's here that shouldn't be."

"Roger, sir."

Heizo puts the radio back on his belt and heads out of the office.

The hospital is a mess; things knocked over and claw marks in the walls and floor. He passes by many people but no dead bodies. Almost nobody is even injured.

_This is bizarre,_ he thinks. _Monokumas don't act this way._

Another voice comes on over the radio. "Sir? Sir, I have a report on the status of our vehicles."

"What's going on?" Heizo says into it.

"The Monokumas slashed up the tires of all our vehicles. It'll take us hours to replace them."

"Anything else?"

"Er… No, actually. They didn't touch anything else. Not even the spares."

"…That's _really_ odd."

"Indeed."

When the guy doesn't talk again, Heizo puts the radio back on his belt and continues on.

Eventually, the first voice comes back on. "Sir, we've found your wife and she's okay. But we're having trouble finding the students and your daughter."

"Let me know as soon as you find out anything."

"We've found 24 dead bodies so far."

"…Oh. Well, I suppose it's inevitable. Are the bodies recognizable?"

"Yeah, actually."

"Let me know once you've identified them. And if you find any more."

"Roger that, sir."

About 30 seconds later, Heizo nearly trips over a dead body. It's the woman with pinkish-gray hair, her throat ripped open. Heizo carefully steps over her and makes a mental note of her location.

After a while, Heizo encounters the guy on the radio (_What was his name? Daiki?_). And Hiyoko is still with him.

"Heizo!" she yells as she rushes over to him and hugs him.

Kiyoshi, holding her 6-year-old son, is also there.

"Sir," Daiki says, "we've found 5 more bodies."

"I found one on my way here," Heizo says when Hiyoko lets go of him.

"We're also having trouble finding Masaru and-"

"DOCTOR SASAKI!"

Everyone turns in the direction of the voice and sees that it's Juria, running towards them.

"Well," Daiki notes, "there's Juria."

She's panting when she gets to them. "S-Sir…! They… The Monokumas… They kidnapped the students!"

"WHAT!?" Heizo shrieks in disbelief.

Hiyoko says, "When we find Masaru, we'll-"

"Masaru ran after them!" Juria interrupts.

"WHAT!?" several people shout in unison.

"That idiot!" Heizo yells. "Without him, finding them is going to be nigh-impossible!"

"A-Are you sure they were kidnapped?" Daiki asks Juria.

"W-Well, I saw them carrying strange boxes in and out," Juria answers.

"Large, metal, rectangular boxes?" Kiyoshi speaks up.

"Y-Yeah. I think there were ten of them."

"Oh no…" Kiyoshi moans.

"What?"

"I… I saw some Monokumas put Natsuki in a box like that."

There's silence.

"No…" Heizo whimpers, horrified. "NO!"

He drops to his knees, tears welling up in his eyes. Hiyoko, equally horrified, tries to comfort him, knowing there's not much she can do.

Someone asks, "C-Can't we get one of the trucks and-?"

"The Monokumas slashed up the tires of all our vehicles," Heizo tells them. "It'll be hours before they're ready. The Monokumas will be long gone by then."

"W-We can search the surrounding areas," Daiki adds, "but we can't go much farther than the mountains. We don't have the resources to do a search-and-rescue operation without any leads."

"Then… What can we do?" the person asks.

"Unless something else happens," Heizo states resignedly, "all we can do for now…is wait."

**END OF ACT 1.**

**Author's note: This is the longest chapter I have ever written for any of my stories. I guess this is what happens when you focus on events and not word count.**

**I wanted to include a line where Natsuki tells Mukuro that she considers Mukuro her sister, but I couldn't find a good place to put it.**

**And now I will reward myself by playing Tropico. Or at least something.**

**Next up: another time skip!**


	15. The Future Foundation

…**I know what I originally said, but I just couldn't resist; the anime will be canon with this story. If you'd still like to read the original chapters, you can find them on my DeviantArt account, Queenofdragons2. I won't be updating the chapters there.**

Makoto stares up at the pinprick of light that is the opening to the _very_ deep pit he's in. It's not wide enough for him to lie down flat, but it is wide enough for him to stretch out his legs with his back against the stone wall. At the bottom of the circular pit, and what he's currently sitting in, is a strange substance black as tar but more liquid-y. In his current position, it comes up to his ribcage, though he can swear it gets deeper every time he's thrown in there.

Suddenly he hears a voice calling to him from the top of the pit. It's not the voice he usually hears, but it is familiar.

"Hello?" Makoto calls back. "Is somebody up there?"

"Makoto!" the voice calls down. "Are you down there?"

"Yeah! Who's up there?"

"Don't worry, buddy!" another voice calls down. "We're sending a rope down!"

Makoto says nothing else, and neither do they. After a few minutes of waiting, Makoto perceives something coming down from the top. He stands up, struggling to get free of the black stuff's pull.

It's a rope, dangling down from above. Makoto grabs it and begins climbing, briefly struggling to get his feet free. Not long after, the rope starts getting hoisted up, jerking as though someone's pulling it up with their bare hands. His knuckles scrape against the stone wall, and it becomes increasingly noticeable the higher he gets, but he doesn't really mind as long as he gets out of there.

When he gets close enough, he can see the silhouette of three figures at the top, but the backlight behind them is too bright for him to make out any details. Even when he's only ten feet or so from the top, he still can't tell who they are. He can tell, though, that one's much larger than the other two.

When the top is only a few feet away, Makoto reaches for it. The two smaller figures grab his outstretched arm and pull him out.

0~*~0

Makoto's eyes open.

He stares at the ceiling for a few moments before realizing what had happened.

It had been just a dream.

He closes his eyes, trying to continue the dream, but nothing happens. It refuses to go on.

Makoto starts to feel sad, and not just because he wanted to know who the rescuers in his dream were. He always feels sad when he wakes up from having a dream about being in that pit. On those days, he'll lie in bed for up to an hour, not out of tiredness but just not wanting to get up.

But not today. Being rescued in the dream has given him extra energy, so he's able to get up and out of bed and get dressed.

He looks at the clock. 7:05 a.m. Not bad.

Makoto walks out of his room and almost immediately encounters Hina.

She cheerfully greets him with, "Hey Makoto!"

"Good morning, Hina," he replies.

"It's a nice day out," she says. "I wish you could've seen the sunrise!"

Hina has windows in her room that face the east, so she's able to look outside and see things like that for herself.

"Meanwhile, I'm stuck inside doing paperwork…" Makoto laments.

"It stinks," Hina says sympathetically.

"At least it's only for a while."

"Yeah."

Makoto would rather have been working on the renovations of Hope's Peak Academy, but his obligations as a member of the Future Foundation eventually forced him back to the organization's headquarters. The organization still hasn't recovered from the Final Killing Game and the loss of several branch leaders. While the new branch leaders lacked Ultimate talents, they got along much better than the old branch leaders, which greatly helped to limit the lasting damage. But the state the Future Foundation had been in for the first month after the Final Killing Game… If the 77th Class, the former Remnants of Despair, hadn't taken the blame, the organization would have collapsed for sure. Of course, the survivors had to tell the rest of the Future Foundation the truth to keep Makoto from facing backlash from them. They had managed to escape direct punishment, but some people outside of the organization were angry with Makoto, and thus he could no longer go on missions that meant interacting with said people.

His conversation with Hina finished, Makoto heads to the cafeteria where he gets a quick breakfast before going to his "office."

In his office is a sizeable stack of papers. Makoto sits down at the desk and rubs his eyes, wishing he could go back to dreaming.

He somewhat reluctantly takes the piece of paper at the top and starts working on it.

Around noon, he takes a break to have lunch. He heads to the cafeteria, where he finds Hiro sitting alone, looking despondent.

Makoto sits in front of him. "Hey Hiro. What's wrong?"

"…The spirits showed me a vision last night," Hiro answers, "and I couldn't get much sleep because of it."

"Why?"

"…It was…all of us…sitting at a round table and eating dinner at this traditional-style house."

"You mean…the other class?"

"Well, they were there too, but so was…the rest of our class."

"…Oh."

"Some of the Captives were also there, like Komaru and Kanon and Fujiko. Heck, even Junko was there."

Makoto's eyes widen. "E-Even Junko?"

"At least…it _looked_ like Junko. She was dressed differently from how Junko would normally dress. Plus Ryo-"

"Good day, gentlemen," a voice interrupts.

Both of them look and are startled to see Tenshin Royama, the new chairman of the Future Foundation, and the oldest of the new branch leaders.

"M-Mr. Royaka!" Hiro stammers.

"It's Royama," Tenshin corrects.

"I-Is there something you wanted to tell us, Mr. Royama?" Makoto nervously asks.

"No. Just wanted to say hi."

With that, he walks off, and Makoto lets out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding.

Hiro slumps in his seat again. "I miss them," he admits.

Makoto then realizes that Hiro's eyes are red, as though he had been crying.

"…I miss them too," Makoto concurs.

Makoto decides to take his lunch to his office to eat later, having lost most of his appetite for the moment.

By 3:07 p.m., he's finished all the paperwork.

_I don't think I've ever gotten done this early,_ Makoto thinks.

Makoto then gets up and peeks into the hallway. Nobody's there. He closes the door, quickly goes back to his desk, and takes out a laptop from a drawer.

He opens it, turns it on, and sees an "Incoming Transmission" notification. He smiles and accepts it.

A new window pops up, one that initially shows static but soon clears to show a man a year older than him with an ahoge, a tie, and heterochromia.

"It's good to see you, Hajime," Makoto greets.

"Good to see you too," Hajime responds.

"How's everyone doing?"

"Pretty good. Gundham's been having nightmares lately, but Sonia's trying to help him with that. Nobody's said anything, but I don't think he's the only one having nightmares…"

"I understand."

"Akane and Nekomaru are still sparring with each other, Kazuichi and Mahiru have been spending a lot of time together, and Teruteru's been acting pretty decently."

"How's Ryota?"

Hajime thought for a moment. "I…haven't seen him all that often. It feels like he's trying to stay away from me."

Makoto doesn't respond.

Hajime looks down, somewhat sullen. "I'm…still surprised that you would risk yourself by keeping in contact with us."

"Hey Hajime!" a female voice calls from off-screen. "We're gonna play poker! Wanna join us?"

Hajime looks at the off-screen person and replies, "Sure, just gimme a sec." He looks back at the screen. "Gotta go."

"Good luck," Makoto says as Hajime shuts off the transmission.

Makoto is about to close the laptop when he notices another "Incoming Transmission" notification. Makoto raises an eyebrow as he accepts the transmission.

Static comes up and bits and pieces of a voice come through.

"This is the Future Foundation," Makoto says. "This is the Future Foundation. I can hear you, loud and clear. This is the Future Foundation, branch number 14. Branch number fffffffffffff…"

The person's face becomes clear, and what Makoto sees is nothing like what he expects.

The man on the screen is lying down on the ground in a dark place, holding his head up with his arms and lit from the side from what is presumably a fire. He's bald, his face is covered in demonic clown-ish makeup, and he's wearing baggy, black arm warmers.

"Shhhhh," the man whispers. "Somebody's sleepin' hyar."

"Who are you?" Makoto whispers back.

"Ah's th' Demonic Acrobat."

"The…Demonic Acrobat?"

"Ah's corntackin' yo' on account o' thar's a person thet needs t'be rexcued. An' soon."

"…Wh-Who?"

"Ah cain't tell y'all their name. But ah can tell y'all their locashun."

"Uh… If you can't give me a name, can you give me a description? Otherwise it won't get approved."

"…All right. Do yo' haf a pencil an' paper?"

"I-I can remember it-"

"I'd feel better eff'n yo' had a pencil an' paper."

Makoto got a pen and a piece of paper out of his desk. "Okay. I got 'em."

"Okay. He's a teenage boy about yer age, he has piercin's in his right ear, lower lip, an' tongue, an' he has a studded jacket, sneakers, an' platinum blond hair tipped wif reddish-o'ange. An' he wields a bat wif large spikes in it as a weapon."

Makoto notices that as the man talks, he keeps looking at someone off-screen.

"If he's right there," Makoto points out, "why don't you just turn the computer so I can see him?"

"On account o' then y'all might freak out an' thet might wake him up, which'd be bad fo' me."

"Why?"

"He don't knows ah's hyar."

Makoto isn't sure how to react.

"As fo' his locashun, he's about ha'fway between Kyoto an' Matsumoto, haidin' fo' Matsumoto."

Makoto quickly writes it down and asks, "Anything else?"

"Thet's it. See y'all next time."

The transmission cuts off, leaving Makoto with several questions. So he goes to the one place where he can get answers to some of them: the Archive.

The Archive is where the Future Foundation keeps information on various cases and enemies.

Makoto goes up to the teenage boy, Hayato Yanai, at the desk.

"Hello," says the boy, "what can I do for you?"

"Hayato, I need you to look up everything we have on a man known as the Demonic Acrobat."

"Sure."

Just as Hayato gets up, Makoto adds, "Do you know where the others are?"

"Byakuya came by earlier and asked for something. He said he'd be in the meeting room on the 5th floor."

"Great, thanks."

"You're welcome!" Hayato calls as Makoto rushes out.

Several people greet him as he passes by them in the hallway and he happily greets them back. He's still grateful for the support they had given him after the Final Killing Game.

Makoto finds Byakuya and Kyoko in the third meeting room on the 5th floor.

"Hey guys."

"Oh, hello, Makoto," Byakuya says, sounding surprised. "Is there something you would like to tell us?"

"Um… I got done with my paperwork early and this guy contacted me on my laptop and told me about a person he wanted us to rescue."

Kyoko asks, "How did he describe this person?"

Makoto takes out the sheet of paper and puts it on the table. Byakuya and Kyoko lean over it as they silently read it to themselves.

Kyoko frowns while Byakuya remarks, "Interesting…"

"Also," Makoto adds, "the guy he wants us to rescue was right there…but he refused to turn the screen because he was afraid I'd 'freak out' and wake him up."

Kyoko looks thoughtful while Byakuya's face becomes unreadable.

"And just who asked you to rescue this person?" Byakuya asks.

"Well…" Makoto starts. He doesn't get a chance to finish before Hayato comes into the room, holding two paper files.

He comes up to the table and says, "Makoto, here are the documents you requested. And Byakuya, here are the documents _you _requested," as he hands them their respective files.

Makoto's is the thinnest, having only a single profile page and several photos.

"The Demonic Acrobat?" Byakuya remarks, noticing the name on Makoto's file.

"Y-Yeah," Makoto admits.

"Did the person who contacted you claim to be the Demonic Acrobat?"

"Y-Yeah."

Hayato takes a sudden interest in the conversation. "The Demonic Acrobat…contacted you?"

"Yeah. He wanted me to rescue someone."

"Was he bald?"

"Yes."

"What was he wearing?"

"Baggy, black arm warmers."

"…Anything else?"

"I couldn't tell. He was lying down."

"Lying down?"

"Yes…"

"…Did he have red irises?"

"Yeah."

Hayato picks up a photo from the table. "Was he wearing makeup like this?"

The photo is a close-up of a person's face. "…Yeah. Exactly like that."

"I don't know much about this Demonic Acrobat," Kyoko interjects.

Hayato becomes passionate. "Most people don't. The Demonic Acrobat is a mass murderer that appeared about a month after The Tragedy hit full swing and disappeared three months later. He was named after his extreme skill in acrobatics, which he would use along with the occasional weapon to kill his victims, as well as the demon-like makeup on his face. He's said to have a body count in the hundreds, and the only people who saw him and lived were those who avoided being seen by him. He was bald, had red irises, and wore only loose jeans. And his tattoos!"

Hayato holds up another picture to Makoto's face, this one of the Demonic Acrobat holding a metal pole above his head as though he's about to bring it down on someone. It shows the tattoos on his chest and abdomen, though the only one Makoto can identify is the one on his abdomen: a circus tent.

Hayato holds up another picture, one that shows the tattoos on the Demonic Acrobat's back, the most prominent one being two snakes making a heart shape.

"Those are some…intricate designs," Byakuya remarks.

"Indeed," Hayato concurs. "There were also some tattoos on his arm, but no matter how many times I tried, I just couldn't get a picture of them."

"You took these pictures?" Kyoko asks.

"Yep. And they're the only pictures of him in existence. I have a few more, but they're pretty much the same as the ones in the file."

"What did the tattoos on his arms look like?"

"On his right arm was a dragon that was almost the full length of his arm and on his left bicep was, I think, a flower, but I'm not sure what kind."

"What happen to the Demonic Acrobat?"

"No one knows. One person thought he had been killed. Another thought he had killed himself. One guy said he might've just given up on his murderous ways. But I suppose we'll never know."

"So if the person who contacted Makoto was wearing arm warmers," Byakuya states, "then he might've been trying to hide an inconsistency between his appearance and what we know about the Demonic Acrobat…"

"M-Maybe," Makoto jumps in, "but the important part is that he wants me to rescue someone, right?"

Kyoko says, "And apparently this person is nearby…"

"The Mad Artist?" Hayato suddenly asks, the dread in his voice apparent.

"Ah, I'm glad you noticed," Byakuya smirks as he holds up his own file, labeled "The Mad Artist".

"Who's the Mad Artist?" Makoto inquires.

"I'm glad you asked. The Mad Artist is a rather obscure serial killer, though they made quite a stir in the local media. The victims were five high school students, all found stabbed to death. The first four victims were found in alleyways while the fifth was found in their own home. Since all the victims had received a call from a public phone the day they were murdered, the police theorized that the killer had lured out the victims, but the fifth one refused to meet with them, forcing the killer to go directly after them. The killer would leave behind drawings made with the victims' blood, causing the media to dub them 'The Mad Artist.' The police discovered that all the victims had gone to the same middle school, but no other personal connection was established."

"Why are you looking up stuff about The Mad Artist?" Hayato asks.

"I've been looking through obscure serial killer cases lately to pass the time," Byakuya answers. "The Mad Artist just happens to be the one I'm looking at right now."

"Oh, okay."

Makoto quietly leaves the room, taking the paper with the rescuee's description on it with him.

0~*~0

"Let me get this straight," Tenshin deadpans. "A man claiming to be a mass murderer known as the Demonic Acrobat contacted you on your laptop and asked you to rescue this teenage boy who happens to be nearby."

"…Y-Yes…" Makoto meekly confirms.

"… Well, I suppose it's worth checking out. We can spare a helicopter and a few agents. If all goes well, we should have him before the day is out."

"Thank you, sir," Makoto breathes in relief.

**Author's note: For those of you wondering, Toko…will be in the next chapter. I wanted to put her in this one, but after I got past the point I wanted to put her section in, I realized I couldn't put it in without making it seem awkward or slowing down the story. And the chapter is long enough without it.**

**That poll on chapter length is still up, just so you all know.**


	16. New Arrival

A helicopter and three agents had been dispatched, and now all Makoto can do is wait for them to get back. After distributing his papers to where they need to go, he decides to take a walk around. It's not long before he encounters Takemichi Yukimaru, a former member of the Crazy Diamonds and Mondo's Captive, staring out over the guard rail on the walkway and looking sullen.

"Hey Take," Makoto greets.

"Hey man," Takemichi solemnly answers.

"What's wrong?"

Takemichi sighs. "…Why didn't he tell me?"

It takes Makoto a few moments to realize what he's talking about. "Oh…"

"I mean, I know _why_ but… Fuck, man."

"I-It's not your fault…"

"I know, but… Jesus… Why…? Why couldn't he have told at least one person before he left? Maybe then he wouldn't have…"

Makoto stands there for a while, trying to think of something he can say. Before he can, Takemichi leaves. Soon, Makoto leaves as well, going in the opposite direction.

Soon, Makoto hears a familiar voice coming from down the hallway.

"No! Are you crazy!? There's no way we can get away with that!" Toko yells.

"But Toki!" Komaru whines. "It'll be so much fun!"

Makoto smiles. _It's good to see they're getting along so well._

He can still remember the day he had finally picked them up. All the surviving Captives had been there, along with several kids that didn't want to continue living in Towa City. The siblings had immediately embraced each other, and they hadn't spent a day apart since.

Makoto continues onward, eventually walking into a room where several people are typing away on computers. Except for one woman, whose lavender-colored hair is tied up in a bun, is looking at a picture she's holding. Makoto strides over to her and sees that the picture is of three teenage girls. The woman realizes that Makoto is there and puts the photo away before Makoto can see anything else.

"Can I help you?" the woman asks.

"Who was in that picture?"

The woman stares at her computer screen. "It doesn't matter."

She then resumes typing. Makoto decides not to push it any further and leaves.

He walks through a hallway and passes Fujiko Yamada, a manga artist and Hifumi's Captive, as she has a conversation with another agent. Grand Bois Cheri Ludenberg, Celeste's feline Captive, is in Fujiko's arms, purring with his eyes closed.

Makoto smiles and continues walking for a few more minutes. He has a feeling that there was somewhere he wanted to go, but he can't remember where, so he returns the documents to the Archive and heads to the cafeteria for some dinner before going back to his room.

When he gets there, he takes a laptop out from his desk and works on some documents due in a few weeks. Eventually he's gotten halfway through the documents…

…And then there's a knock on the door.

Makoto nearly jumps as he's startled out of his concentration and glances at the clock. It's 8:26 p.m.

_I've been working for over two hours?_

The knock sounds again.

Makoto hoists himself from the desk and walks over to the door. He opens it to find an agent wearing see-through sunglasses pushed up to his forehead on the other side.

"Yes?" Makoto says.

"The team you requested be dispatched just got back," the agent says, "and they're demanding that you head to the hangar immediately."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"I don't know. They said they found the guy, but they didn't say anything else. They were…very insistent that you get there as soon as possible."

Makoto nods once and heads off.

0~*~0

The hanger is on the floor below the roof. It's where all Future Foundation aircraft is kept. There's a circular door on the roof that can open up to allow the aircraft in. There are mostly helicopters, but there are a few small planes as well.

Before Makoto even walks up the short flight of stairs, he sees an agent standing at the top. He's taken off his sunglasses and his face is sweaty. He looks…shaken.

"Did something happen?" Makoto asks.

"We… We found the guy…" the agent replies, sounding thoroughly disturbed.

Makoto tenses up. "Is he okay?"

"Y-Yeah… He's okay. He's…fairly scratched up, but he's okay."

"Ok, so… What's wrong?"

The agent looks around, uncertain. "Uh… You'll… You'll have to see for yourself. He's still by the helicopter."

"How'll-?"

"You'll know who he is the moment you see him."

Makoto slowly climbs the stairs and walks out into the hangar, feeling nervous.

_This is getting weird…_

The only people Makoto sees as he walks around are some Future Foundation agents. There's nobody that looks out-of-place or unfamiliar.

Makoto tugs at his sleeves. The hangar is a big place and all the helicopters look the same._ I hope I can—_

"Yo! What's up?"

Makoto freezes and his mind goes blank. _That voice…!_

He whirls around and finds himself staring directly at Leon, who looks exactly as he did during the High School Life of Mutual Killing.

"Uh, you okay, dude?" Leon asks, his expression a mix of confusion and worry.

"L-Leon…" Makoto breathlessly moans.

Then everything goes black.

0~*~0

"…ude, wake up! Wake up!" a panicked voice calls out.

Makoto slowly opens his eyes, his mind in a daze. _What…just happened? …Wait…_

Makoto jolts upright, his head nearly colliding with Leon's.

Leon holds up his hands, looking very worried. "A-Are you okay?"

Makoto stares at him. Most of his messy hair is platinum blond, with the tips of it a stark reddish-orange. His cheekbones are visible and there are some scratches and healing cuts on his face, as well as a black eye. He still has the white, studded jacket, but there are some small rips and tears in it, many of which have been roughly mended.

"Uh, why are you looking at me like that?"

Makoto can't answer. He can't even think a coherent sentence.

"Oh wait, are you supposed to know me?"

"…Huh?"

Leon opens his mouth to explain, but he's cut off.

"Hey, what's going-?"

Both the boys turn to look. It's Hiro.

Hiro stares at Leon, his expression slowly becoming more and more panicked. "Ahh… Ahh… Ahh… …_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!**_"

Hiro unleashes a scream unlike anything Makoto has ever heard before. He and Leon quickly cover their ears.

Kyoko, Byakuya, Hina, and Toko appear from behind him, with Komaru a short distance behind.

Hina says, "What's- AAAAHHHH!"

Byakuya says, "What on Earth is- HUH!?"

Kyoko looks shocked.

Toko just screams, gripping her lengthy braids.

Komaru, thoroughly alarmed, says, "Why is everyone screaming!?"

"That's what I'd like to know!" Leon yells.

"HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!" Toko answers, her volume and expression not changing.

"What the hell's going on?" says yet another voice. This time, it's Hiroko Hagakure, Hiro's mother. Makoto notices that she's still wearing the nurse uniform.

Hiro quickly ducks behind her, saying, "M-Mommy! It's a ghost!"

Leon does a double-take. "That's your mom!?"

"That's not what ghosts look like!" Komaru retorts.

Hiroko calmly walks up to Leon, forces him to stand, and checks his wrist for a pulse. After a few seconds, she says, "Well, whoever he is, he's definitely not a ghost. Ghosts don't have pulses."

"Besides," Komaru repeats, "that's not what ghosts look like!"

"And even if he was a ghost," Toko adds, "he would look like he did when he died! Does he look anything like he did when he died!?"

Hiro is still nervous, but says, "I…guess you're right…" He turns to Leon. "So, uh… Who are you?"

Leon blinks. "…Leon Kuwata. I think."

"You…think?"

"I don't really remember. They said that's what my name is."

Makoto finally stands up. "They?"

Before Leon can answer, yet another voice says, "What in the name of…?"

Makoto is startled to see that it's Tenshin Royama this time. He stares at Leon for several seconds before saying, "Mrs. Hagakure, take this young man to the infirmary. I want a full medical examination performed on him."

"All right, sir," she says.

Leon feebly points at the helicopter. "M-My stuff's still in there…"

"An agent will bring your items to you after the examination," Tenshin tells him.

Hiroko gently tugs on Leon's wrist, leading him away.

The seven remaining young adults are left behind, none of them sure what to do.

Hina is the first to speak up. "So…what do we do now?"

Kyoko, still looking dumbfounded, says, "I'll, uh, I'll try to see if Mrs. Hagakure will be able to give us the medical report."

Byakuya, having mostly recovered from his earlier discombobulation, says, "I must say…this turn of events is quite interesting."

Makoto stays silent, his mind still reeling. He should've known who it was when he heard the description, but he had no reason to believe it would be Leon…if it even is Leon. He knows it's more likely that it's somebody who's either pretending to be Leon or has been led to believe that he's Leon, but part of his mind desperately wants to believe that it's the real Leon.

Once all the others have left, Makoto climbs into the helicopter and looks over the two items left behind. One is the wooden bat with large spikes jammed into it so far, they stick out the other side. There's dried blood on the bat. Makoto quickly puts it down and looks at the other item, a backpack. He opens it up to find some food and two water bottles, one of which is half-full.

_Looks like he was doing pretty well, considering how long he must've been out there…_

The Tragedy is more or less over, but there are still many areas that haven't been reclaimed by civilization, due to there simply not being enough people to occupy them. Still, many people lived in those areas for a variety of reasons. It was a harsh life, but some fared better than others. Makoto quickly leaves and decides to go back to his room. He feels exhausted.

On the way there, several people stop him and ask about the young man that looked like Leon. Nobody asks if it really was Leon, and that bothers Makoto more than he thought it would.

Eventually, Makoto encounters Tenshin again, leaning against a wall.

"Good evening, Makoto," Tenshin curtly greets.

"I-Is there something wrong?" Makoto asks.

Tenshin shakes his head. "We'll be holding a meeting tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. regarding the young man the Demonic Acrobat asked you to bring in. I'll let you know once we've decided on what room to use. In the meantime, I'd advise you to stay away from him for your sake."

Makoto doesn't respond. He feels anger creep into his mind as he unconsciously clenches his fists.

Tenshin leaves, a hint of annoyed resignation on his face. Makoto stares after him for a bit before shuffling back to his room. When he gets there, he takes off his shoes and the overcoat of his suit before flopping onto his bed, exhausted. He falls asleep almost immediately.

0~*~0

It's dark. And yet it's not. There's no light source, so the room is black, but he can see himself perfectly.

Makoto can feel the floor beneath his feet, but he can't make it out. It must be what looking into a black hole is like.

Makoto hears giggling behind him. He turns around to find Junko sitting on something he can't see with her legs crossed. She looks ecstatic.

"Ooo, Makoto, I'm so proud right now!" she squeals.

Makoto doesn't feel anything. "Proud of what?"

She waves her hand to the side and a colored circle appears, showing a blurry image. The image slowly focuses until it shows Leon sitting on the edge of a bed, hunched over with his face buried in his hands and sobbing loudly. He's not wearing his jacket.

Makoto still feels nothing, but he can't look away.

"Look at him!" Junko says. "Not only is he starting to doubt his identity, he's also terrified of what your precious Future Foundation is going to do to him! And! He thinks nobody else is going to stand up for him! It's just so-!"

Her speech devolves into joyful squeeing.

0~*~0

Makoto awakens with a start. He sits up and looks over at the clock. It's past midnight.

He knows dreams aren't supposed to mean anything in real life, but…

…_Maybe I should check on him._

He gets up, puts his overcoat and shoes, and leaves his room.

The hallways of the Future Foundation HQ are eerily empty at night. They're not completely barren; there are always a few people up and about at night; but it's a sharp contrast to what Makoto is used to seeing.

Makoto already has a hunch as to where Leon is being kept: the holding rooms. They're more comfortable and more private than jail cells, meant to contain people not believed to be dangerous or too suspicious. But Makoto can't help but suspect that, if Leon was indeed settled in a holding room, it was more because he had just been brought in from the wastelands than a lack of suspicion towards him. Makoto soon reaches the holding rooms, and his suspicions are confirmed by the sight of a night agent in front of one of the doors.

_All right, just pretend you're supposed to be here and everything will be fine._

Makoto strides up to the agent and says, "This is where Leon is being kept?"

The agent nods.

"I need to talk to him."

The agent raises an eyebrow but stands up and opens the eye slot on the door. "There's someone who needs to talk to you."

"…Let 'em in," Leon's dejected voice answers.

The agent closes the eye slot. "How long will this take?"

"As long as it needs to. Even if it's all night."

The agent opens the door and Makoto slips into the door, shutting the door behind him.

Leon is sitting in the same spot on the bed as he was in the dream. His jacket is draped on a chair. He stares up dejectedly at Makoto.

"Oh, it's you," Leon says with a hint of surprise and a lot of resignation. "Didn't think you'd want anything to do with me."

Makoto is taken aback. "Why?"

"Haven't they said that I'm an imposter?"

"Not…outright," Makoto admits.

Leon hangs his head down, obscuring his face. It's physically painful for Makoto to see Leon so forlorn. His fists clench up.

"Leon…" Leon looks up at the mention of his name. "When you look at me…do I seem familiar at all to you?"

Leon looks at Makoto for a few seconds, looking thoughtful. "You know… I… You do. It's like, uh, your face kinda…stands out to me, like I recognize it. D-Does that make sense?"

"Yes," Makoto states confidently, "and that's all I need to hear to know that you, without a doubt, are the Leon I once knew and was friends with."

Leon stares at Makoto, his eyes wide with shock and confusion.

"I don't know how you lost your memory," Makoto continues, "or, uh, how it's possible for you to be alive right now, b-but I know that you're Leon Kuwata, and tomorrow morning, I'll help you prove it to everyone else. I mean that."

Before Makoto can say anything else, Leon leaps from the bed and rushes up to hug Makoto.

Makoto freezes from the sudden contact and the fact that Leon, of all people, is hugging him like this. The closest to a hug he's ever gotten from Leon is him leaning into Makoto as he gave the athlete a one-armed side hug because Leon had been crying, and that had been during the year they had locked themselves inside Hope's Peak Academy.

Makoto feels Leon's shuddering and shaking and hears his stifled sobs. Makoto returns the hug and soon starts crying himself.

Makoto feels guilty for lying to Leon. Granted, it's not a total lie; he really does want to believe that the person he's currently hugging is actually Leon, and a part of him does. And he really will try to convince the higher-ups that the young man is really Leon (and maybe convince himself in the process), or at least that he shouldn't be harmed, sent away, or imprisoned. But until he gets some sort of explanation as to how the dead can come back to life, he just can't fully convince himself.

They stay hugging for a while longer, even after they've stopped crying.

Eventually, Leon says, "Thanks, dude."

"…No problem, Leon."

They finally break the hug. Leon has a thankful smile on his face, and seeing it makes Makoto smile too.

"So, uh, I didn't get your name," Leon says, putting his head behind his head.

"My name's Makoto Naegi."

"I'll…try to remember that."

Makoto's still smiling. "Is there anything else you need?"

Leon's smile drops. "…Y-Yeah…"

Makoto stops smiling, becoming concerned. "What is it?"

Leon looks at the floor, then back at Makoto. "Could you…stay with me for a while? At least until I fall asleep. It's uh…" He looks around the room, "…kinda small in here."

Makoto nods. "Sure."

"Thanks."

Makoto sits down in the chair as Leon climbs into the bed. He notices that Leon doesn't put the blanket over himself.

"What about the lamp?" Makoto asks, gesturing to the lit lamp on the desk.

"Leave it. I can sleep with it."

Leon is asleep in minutes. Or at least Makoto assumes he is. He keeps changing his position.

_If he is asleep, it must be pretty lightly…_

Makoto feels increasingly sleepy. The chair is more comfortable than he would've thought, and it's getting quite late.

_Maybe if I just close my eyes for…_

**Author's note: ****I now have a Tumblr account, located at queenofdragons6.**


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